The Future's Past
by Aurora-cs
Summary: The crew of the Starship Enterprise are looking forward to some much needed rest and relaxation on Starbase 83, but when they rescue Aura Starfire from a dying planet it will mean a most unusual detour. Co-written with Matt Morwell.
1. In which there is a last minute rescue

**The Future's Past  
**  
-: A Star Trek/Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction :-  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter one** - In which there is a last-minute rescue.

* * *

A small planetoid inhabited a Star System with a dying sun.

The sun would soon use up the last of its energy, and be engulfed into itself to become a red giant. In mere hours, the planetoid would cease to be able to support any life at all, and then, would no longer exist - the red giant would destroy it and the other planets in the system.

Captain James Tiberius Kirk sat in his chair on the bridge of the Starship_ Enterprise_, watching as Tactical Officer Pavel Chekov used the long-range scanners in a last-minute search for signs of life -thus far, all had been devoid of intelligent life, though there existed basic animal and plant life and teams had already been sent down to those that possessed anything informative for research and analysis.

This was the last scan to be performed, then they would stay to watch the formation of a new star, document their findings and leave the system, with the crew more than ready for a stop at the nearest starbase for some rest and relaxation after several missions that had posed much danger to the crew.

As his ears caught a bleeping from his console; he turned towards it, somewhat glad to be shaken from his boredom, and watched Sulu check on the signal, fingers dancing across his control panel, and how his eyes widened as he read the new streams of incoming data. "Captain!"

Kirk frowned. The tone of Sulu's voice had a tinge of panic to it. "Yes, Mr. Sulu?"

"Scanners show a lifesign on that planet. It must have just arrived, because we didn't pick it up before."

"Non-sentient?"

"No, sir," Sulu replied. "I can't tell without precise data, but I'm almost one hundred percent certain it's more than just a basic animal life form."

"Then we'd best investigate," Kirk decided. "Otherwise that life form is going to have quite a surprise in a few hours." He turned to his trusted science officer and second-in-command. "Spock, if you would see to that?"

Spock nodded, silently rising from his post and entering the turbolift, knowing what was expected of him - gather a small science team, find out what that life form was and what it was doing there and, prime directive permitting, remove it from the planet before the sun died.

'_What would a sentient life form be doing on an uninhabited planet such as this?' _Kirk wondered, drumming his fingers on the side of the chair._ 'Moreover, without a ship? Doesn't it know what's going on? Science and research on this particular star has been going for years - we all knew it was going to go out, so who the devil would be down there?'_

Aboard the turbolift, Spock was thinking along the same lines. He tried to come up with an answer, but could find none that were feasible.

'_Highly illogical'_

* * *

Putting her hand in front of her eyes, Aura staggered along in the dusty sand of the planet. Her throat was raw from lack of drinking, having exhausted her supplies of water an hour ago and she was now looking for somewhere where she could rest.

She still felt ill, perhaps even more than when she had left the last dimension she had been in. It hadn't been very welcoming there, the people having been different enough physically to be suspicious of her. Then, when she had accidentally used her lightning ability to try to get away, they had gone from just being suspicious to deeming her a threat.

Already sick, Aura would have liked to have found somewhere to stay for a day or two to regain enough strength to teleport to another place safely, but had no such luck. They kept finding her. So she had taken her chances and reached deep inside for the power she knew was there and teleported away, taking almost all of her energy to do so.

She had awoken lying in the sand, with no idea how long she had been there.

Now feeling even worse, Aura knew that she was in trouble. She had no food and no water, and in a desert region there wasn't any shelter, save for her jacket, which she now held above her head, trying to block the bright sun from her eyes and provide some shade.

She trudged through the burning desert. There was no sign of relief anywhere, no indication that there was any kind of life here whatsoever - and that was not a comforting thought. If she couldn't find life, that meant that she probably couldn't find water, either.

Aura looked around.

Not that there would be much in this place, anyway - no vegetation, not even a scrub of grass to indicate that life was at all possible here. It seemed likely that there was none, which made it incredibly inconvenient for her to have ended up here, especially since her teleporting power was refusing to work.

She squinted off into the distance, sweat stinging her eyes, but there appeared to be nothing but sand for miles around.

Even if she tried to teleport again, not knowing the terrain left her little hope of getting anywhere better. There was little chance of being able to get to another dimension altogether at this point, weak and ill, it may well use so much energy that it could kill her and besides, the skill of teleporting distances was something she had only recently learned, so she didn't know how well it would work.

Needing to rest for just a moment, Aura sat down, the searing heat of the sand burning into her clothes. It had been cold there, in the dimension she had been in before, and as soon as she had woken here, Aura had hurriedly taken off the jacket, but now wearing just a pair of light trousers and a t-shirt, she still felt unbearably hot.

Aura's vision swam as she stood up again and began to walk.

She didn't know where, and she didn't know why, but she walked.

Her fur was not helping matters any, especially the fur on the tips of her ears, which felt like they were sitting in a frying pan, hence the jacket over her head for protection, but even that provided little shelter as the heat bombarded her from all sides. Breathing the air was painful because it was so hot, and on top of that it was dry with no moisture at all to speak of.

In her travels she had been through other deserts, but none of them had felt as hot and dry as this one.

There was no one here. Nobody to call on for help. No one to show her where she could find a single glass of water. Aura almost felt like crying, so crushing was the feeling of hopelessness that hit her, but she couldn't, because that would simply deprive her of her own bodily fluids, which she desperately needed to survive.

'_No crying!'_ A little voice in her head ordered. '_Kharis would hate you forever if you gave up!'_

Even after two years, the sting of losing her brother was as fresh as ever and while it didn't occur anywhere near as often as the weeks after his death, every so often she would wake up in the night from a nightmare, an echo from the past where each second of that night would be played out in slow motion in her sleep.

"I won't stop now," Aura murmured to herself. "There has to a town or village or something out here somewhere, just so I can get something to drink and rest, then I can try and find somewhere else..." She panted. "Maybe then these... powers... might take me somewhere cool..."

She smiled in spite of the situation, at the time of their discovery those 'powers' had been a blessing in disguise. When she had run away after Kharis had died, she had tapped into them without knowing and found herself in a completely different place and in time had learnt more about them, discovering she could also manipulate electricity to a degree, and more recently that she could also teleport over distances - though without knowing where to go, this new discovery was useless.

Still, those powers had given her the excuse she had needed to get away from the pain of losing her only family. She had left Mobius far behind; now an inter-dimensional traveller, discovering new and old alike, beauty and horror all in the same package.

Aura tried to distract herself with such thoughts as much as she possibly could.

She was panting openly for breath now, having given up on keeping her mouth closed, knowing that having a closed mouth would have retained her fluids, but unable to ignore the heat any longer.

Her steps were staggering now, and they grew shorter and shorter with each passing moment, until she was only taking baby steps.

'_I can't give up...'_

Aura clenched her eyes shut, pushing the burning darkness away.

_'Don't give up! You've gone too far to give up now!'_

Her knees buckled.

_'What would Kharis think of you?'_

This wasn't enough to stop Aura falling to her knees as a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her, and making her feel sick to her stomach when she tried to stand up again.

Energy spent, she fell face-first into the sand.

_'Don't give up!'_

Aura knew she should obey the voice, but no matter how hard she fought to get up, her body refused to obey, eyes closing and breathing becoming shallow as she fell into the welcoming blackness.

* * *

Spock and McCoy materialized on the planet surface a few hundred meters from where the signal originated.

Because of the sandstorm, they could not go straight to where the life-sign was, and were at the nearest point outside the storm.

"Which way, then, Spock?" McCoy asked, already sure that with the light breeze, which seemed to increase in speed with every second, he would probably soon be trying to get sand out of almost every part of his uniform and hair.

"West, 370.5 meters, Doctor," Spock said, pointing.

"All right then, let's hurry up and go find out what this is."

McCoy's mental prediction - though usually exaggerated - turned out to be correct in this instance as the huge sandstorm suddenly seemed to curl up around them, their vantage point allowing them a full view of the sand cloud that towered high above.

It was monumental.

Spock continued to pace forward diligently and unblinkingly, completely focused on his task, but McCoy had been in a terrible mood to begin with, and coming down here was not his idea of fun.

He threw up one arm to try and block out the blowing sand, though it seemed to come from all directions. His only real option to prevent the sand from getting to him would have been by covering his eyes completely, but that simply was not a viable option.

"There!" Spock shouted, over the noise of the storm, pointing forwards to where there appeared to be a dark shape in the sand, already half-buried.

They hurried as far as they could, only to be pushed back by the force of the rapidly increasing storm and it seemed to take hours before they got to the shape in the sand where they wasted no time in digging out the creature.

It was a child.

Though unconscious and breathing shallowly, it appeared to be uninjured, but as McCoy brushed aside a few locks of grey hair from the face, he felt the warmth radiating from it head, even through the heat of the desert.

He tried to speak to Spock, but the storm was so fierce by now that his words were lost on the wind and sand flowed into his mouth.

Spock pointed in another direction and picked up the child, then motioned for McCoy to follow him, his tricorder showing that there was some sort of cave structure nearby where they could hopefully take shelter and find out who this person was.

They moved quickly in the direction of the cave, which was more an indentation in the wall of a sand hill, but facing away from the storm. The place was hardly large, only about three meters deep and two meters wide, but it did the trick.

Their vision now at least partially unobstructed, they inspected the child.

Its appearance was something akin to a Terran fox or squirrel, although it was bipedal and had clearly defined hands and feet, rather than paws. It was a rather strange amalgam to behold; though not unattractive - they had both seen far uglier in their time.

McCoy set to work right away, pulling at his medkit and scanning the child, reading through the information his tricoder offered as Spock tried to raise the _Enterprise_ on the communicator.

Whatever this creature was, it wasn't any species they knew of in Starfleet, for the information was fairly sparse - resembling some species in the known galaxy to a degree, but in some ways totally different. He would hazard a guess that the creature was female, by all appearances still a child, and though he could not tell what her normal temperature was supposed to be, McCoy was sure that she had a fever.

But how she had gotten here?

Spock shut down his communicator and turned back. "I have managed to contact the Enterprise. The storm should be calm enough for us to leave in an hour, giving us 2.5 hours to leave this solar system before its destruction."

McCoy grunted by way of response and continued his scans. "She's gotta be dehydrated. There's no way you can walk through this hellhole and not get dehydrated." He tapped into his bulky tricorder a memo to get the girl an I.V. drip of saline solution when they returned to the ship. He didn't know what her blood composition was, but she obviously was able to tolerate an oxygen-nitrogen-argon atmosphere. The veins in her eyes appeared to be red, as well, indicating that her blood was carbon-based.

Spock, with his considerably sharper hearing, was just barely able to hear a moan escape the girl, and he looked down at her in curiosity.

Her small chest was rising and falling quite rapidly, which corroborated McCoy's diagnosis that she was dehydrated - her body was overheated and working hard to keep her cool, but Spock observed that its efforts were counterproductive at the moment, revealing that she was missing a redundancy that many other bipedal life forms possessed as her fur, thick and bushy, prevented her from doing what humans and many other species could do - sweat.

The hot, dry atmosphere of the planet would kill her if they didn't get back to the ship soon.

* * *

Aboard the _Enterprise_, Kirk found himself idly bouncing his fist on the armrest of his chair.

He didn't know what else to do at this point; all he really could do was wait around for Spock and McCoy to get back to the ship, hopefully with a live passenger.

'_How could that life form have gotten there, anyway?' _He mused._ 'Could it have been on a ship, and crash-landed? No, because we didn't detect any debris on the surface... Could it have beamed down, and the ship exploded?'_

Kirk looked to Chekov. "Scan local space for some kind of debris."

Chekov shook his head. "I already have, keptin. Sensor reports nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to indicate a wessel vos here recently."

"When was the last time a ship was even present in this system?"

"According to ship logs filed with Starfleet, almost five years ago," Chekov replied.

"Then how could that life-form have gotten there?" Kirk frowned. "It can't be a native of the planet, the last Starfleet mission here showed no settlements on the planet..."

Put simply, he was stumped, as was the rest of his crew.

Maybe Spock and McCoy would know when they returned; all he knew at this point was that Spock had contacted the transporter room to see when they could be transported back to the ship. Apparently, the science officer felt there was no breach in the Prime Directive in bringing the alien aboard, since he had informed the transporter room that there would be three to beam up ASAP.

They had the time to do it, but Kirk still felt uneasy whenever any of his officers - and even more so when it was his close friends - were put into danger.

All he could do was sit and wait.

* * *

Spock and McCoy continued to keep a close watch on their unconscious companion. Fortunately, nothing seemed to grow much worse as time passed, though she continued to incrementally lose badly needed moisture.

The storm began to subside, and soon enough it became clear enough to beam back to the ship.

Though McCoy wasn't usually eager about having his molecules sent into a data stream, at this point he welcomed it, pleased to see a stretcher was waiting in the transporter room, as well as a fully equipped medical team, headed by his head nurse, Christine Chapel.

McCoy had to grudgingly admit to himself that he was proud of these people; they knew exactly what he expected of them, and they performed to those specifications with great alacrity and speed.

The child was quickly placed onto the stretcher and taken to the Sickbay, Spock followed, desiring more information on this unknown life-form, stopping at the inside of the medical room to contact Kirk and inform him both of their passenger and that they could now leave the solar system.

A slight shudder signalled the ship moving into warp.

Spock turned his attention back to their unknown passenger, who now lay on a bed. An I.V. line had been placed in her arm to deal with the dehydration, while McCoy tried to bring down the fever, as well as get a more accurate detail of her condition from the Sickbay computers.

Spock had seen this sort of procedure before, and could see that McCoy was having trouble, undoubtedly due to the unknown biology of his patient, but knew better than to interfere with the doctor's work. Not only was it counterproductive, but it generally tended to make the man cranky and considering his already heightened level of crankiness, Spock felt no desire to increase it further.

Instead, he simply watched as the talented hands of Doctor McCoy worked to stabilize their alien passenger.

* * *

**Authors note: **Welcome to my new account here on and the return of an old story. This was co-written over countless late-night AIM sessions with Matt Morwell (go and read his stories) after we were talking about what would happen if Aura (my character) ended up in the Star Trek universe.

Well, what had started as a humourous poke at Star Trek - including Kirk getting his shirt ripped and the inevitable fate of the red shirt (only with jam) - developed into an actual story with characterisation, scientific terminology and *shock* a plot.

It does still include Kirk getting peeved and going on away missions despite being the Captain, McCoy waving around a medkit and complaining about the transporter, Scotty being protective of the ship, an attempt at a Russian accent for Chekov and a succession of eyebrows being raised by a certain Vulcan - so this story is still true to 'Trek continuity.

As for continuity, I don't think we were ever really sure when it is set, though the following episodes have occured - 'The Tholian Web', 'Amok Time', 'The Deadly Years' and 'The Trouble with Tribbles' - so my personal opinion is that it is set several months after 'The Tholian Web'.

This story has been re-edited by myself, with permission from my co-author (thank you Matt! :D) and beta-read by another amazing author - Tylec Asroc - also here on .

Last thing - yes, this story is a crossover with my character - Aura Starfire - and will involve and mention details of my own Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction continuity, but it isn't a 'true' crossover, which is why it hasn't been put in the crossover catagory as I consider it more of a 'Star Trek' fanfiction with elements of Sonic.

Right, I'll stop talking/typing now.

Oh, before I forget...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Star Trek. I do own the new and improved dvd of Season 1 of the original series and a set of playing cards, but sadly nothing else. I also do not own the characters from Sonic the Hedgehog, but do own Aura Starfire and several other original characters who will be mentioned in future disclaimers when their chapter has been introduced (otherwise it would kind of spoil the plot)

Thanks again to Tylec for beta-reading for me!


	2. In which Aura meets the Enterprise crew

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter two** - In which Aura meets the _Enterprise _crew

* * *

Aura didn't know where she was.

She could hear distant voices, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't speak and they drifted away, leaving her to think and wonder.

Whoever and whatever they belonged to, the voices were garbled and senseless, but there was more than one, with tones that suggested they were male and female.

Despite feeling as if she were on fire, with every inch of her body burning and sending spasms of pain through her body, Aura tried to move, but couldn't, so instead tried to open her eyes.

This was a simple enough task and she managed to open them halfway to see that the voices belonged to humans.

A spark of fear shot through her, momentarily driving the pain away.

She had met humans before and though some had welcomed her, others hadn't, and with the main reason for leaving Mobius because of what Robotnik - a human - had done to her, Aura felt her fear was justified.

This particular human looked harmless enough, appearing to be of an older age from the wrinkles on his face and the bags under his eyes, though on the other hand, perhaps he was simply tired. Aura didn't know, but he was hovering over her and passing some sort of device over her chest and tutting and she winced in anticipation of more pain, knowing from experience that you couldn't be too careful with humans.

However, all she felt was a slight stinging pain in her arm, and tried to crane her head up to see what was causing it, but the human pressed two fingers against her forehead and gently pushed her back down.

Aura frowned - couldn't she at least be allowed to see what was going on?

"Sorry kiddo. Can't have you moving just yet."

Aura tried to respond, but her throat felt dry and sore when she tried to clear it. "W...Why not?"

The human's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. "You speak English?" He sounded genuinely surprised.

Aura nodded. "Not as well as my own language."

The human nodded. "Strange, I would have expected Standard, but still, you apparently know English well enough. That'll make helping you a lot easier." He paused. "I can't let you get up yet, you're very ill."

Aura tried to protest, but a comfortable warm feeling was washing over her, her eyelids felt heavy and suddenly her body didn't feel so pained and stressed. In fact it now felt quite warm and inviting and she couldn't stop herself yawning and letting the darkness take her once more, deciding she could at least rest with the knowledge that this human was trying to help her.

When she fell asleep, McCoy continued to work on her, taking constant readings and continuing the injection of carefully medicated saline to stabilise her.

Spock could see that the girl appeared to be resting comfortably now, her breathing wasn't as ragged and quick and it was good to know that she would recover.

The question invariably remained why she had been on that planet, but the answer to that would have to wait until she woke up again and they could ask more questions.

For now they could do nothing, so after checking with McCoy on her condition, Spock left for the bridge where, as usual, the Captain looked and sounded impatient for answers.

"What's the situation, Spock?"

"The life-form is a child, age and race unknown." Spock intoned. "She is dehydrated and has a high fever. Doctor McCoy is treating her and she awoke briefly a few moments ago, on which we have found she is able to speak English. We do not have any further information on her as of yet. I shall find out more when she wakes up again."

"Hopefully we'll get more answers then." Kirk mused, drilling his fingers on the side of his chair. "We need to find out exactly what she was doing there."

Spock made his way to the science station, relieving the temporary crewman assigned there whilst he had been on the planet, pondering that himself.

* * *

Aura drowsily opened her eyes, wondering if the human and his device had been part of some sort of bizarre dream. However, when she saw her surroundings, so very different from those of the planet she had just been on and so very similar to what she had seen before, she knew that it hadn't been a dream.

Humans had come to her rescue and she was certainly feeling none the worse for wear.

Aura looked around for the human, slowly turning her head from one side to the other - she didn't want him coming back to put her to sleep again, even as comfortable as that sleep had been and she also didn't want to be barked at for moving around.

She found him standing somewhere around her feet, either unaware she was awake or didn't particularly care that she was no longer asleep.

"Who are you?"

He snapped around when Aura spoke and after regaining his composure came around the bed to her side.

Aura tried to push herself up into a sitting position. The human frowned until he realized she wasn't trying to get out of the bed, and helped her to sit up.

She asked again.

"I'm Doctor Leonard McCoy." The human answered.

Slightly scared, though also reassured at knowing he was a doctor and grateful to have a name she could call him, Aura asked where she was and he told her she was on the Starship _Enterprise_.

The name meant nothing to her. "What's a Starship?"

"You don't know what a Starship is? Well..." McCoy scratched his head. "Our mission is to explore the galaxy for new planets and civilizations, and we came to this place and found you. But if you don't know what a Starship is, then obviously you didn't get there in one, and that place couldn't have been your native land, which leaves us in the dark as to how you got there in the first place."

Aura recognised the unspoken question and sighed because this was about the hardest thing to explain to people. They never seemed to understand the concept and sometimes she wondered if she fully understood it herself, and usually the answer she came up with was that she didn't.

"I have a power to move across dimensions," She tried to put it simply. "I got here by using that power. I was in another dimension before, but my power took me here."

McCoy frowned. "How is that even possible? Our transporters certainly can move us across distances, but dimensions?"

Aura's eyes lit up. "You mean you actually know what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah, but I don't understand how a person would be able to do it without technology. Especially technology that even we haven't developed yet. Well..." McCoy trailed off as he was reminded of their encounter with a rather frightening alternate universe and began to dither aloud. "That's not quite true; we've done it before, but..."

Aura could have hugged him. Understanding how she could do it wasn't as important to her as simply understanding that she could and even if he was sceptical, as long as he knew what she was talking about, it didn't matter.

"I just can. I don't know why I can do it, but I just think about being somewhere else and I'm there..." Aura paused. "I've been able to do it for years now."

"Years?"

Aura nodded, knowing he was thinking she was too young, but she had learned to ignore that. "I found it a few years ago, before I left..." She stopped, trying to ignore the hot feeling behind her eyes.

"Left? Left where?"

Aura's chest tightened. "My home..."

"Can't you get back?" McCoy asked, thinking it sounded like she had not left willingly.

Aura shook her head. "I didn't know I could do it when I left, but I don't think I want to go back."

"Why?" McCoy asked.

Aura shook her head. "Bad things happened back home. I lost the people I cared about to a man whose trying to take over our world, and when I found out I could go to other dimensions it just seemed like a good way to escape. It's a lot of fun sometimes, Nobody can tell me what to do, I don't have to go to bed at a certain time. I'm free..." Aura's voice trailed off as she tried to make her situation more light-hearted.

McCoy didn't press any further. "What's your name then, kid?" He finally asked after a long and painful silence.

"Aura. Aura Starfire," Aura answered. "You said you're a doctor. Am I going to be all right?"

"You'll be just fine," McCoy assured her. "You lost a lot of water, though, so I'll need you to stay here until you build it back up." He left her side for a few moments and returned with a tall glass, which he handed to her. "Here."

Aura gratefully took it and gulped it down almost faster than she should have. Her throat was incredibly parched and the water had a slightly sweet taste to it, which made her enjoy it all the more. When she finished it, she looked at him questioningly.

McCoy knew what she was wondering about. "It tastes sweet because there's a sugar-electrolyte mix in the water. When you lose fluid like that, your blood-sugar level also goes down. You lost a lot of energy that way."

"That happens when I teleport too," Aura mused, not sure exactly what a 'sugar electrolyte-mix' was, but guessing from what McCoy had said afterwards that it was meant to give her more energy. "But I felt worse this time. Usually I feel really tired when I arrive somewhere new and need to rest, but I usually stay awake long enough to get somewhere safe first. I felt really bad this time, it was raining in the place I was at before, and when I got here it was really hot and I walked for a while, then..." Aura frowned. "I don't remember what happened after that."

McCoy nodded. "That makes sense, then. Whatever you use to teleport takes energy, so sleep is what you need to recharge." He frowned. "Something funny?"

"Just you saying 'recharged'" Aura grinned.

McCoy grunted. "I have to let Jim know about all this..."

"Jim?"

"Known as Captain Kirk by everyone else on this ship. He's the captain of the _Enterprise_, the one that tells everyone what to do and where to go."

Aura didn't like the sound of this, since humans in authority tended to be the worst from what she had experienced. "What do you have to tell him?"

"That you're awake."

"I'm that important?"

"You were the only life form on the planet you teleported to. That planet can't support life." McCoy checked a chronometer. "Actually..." He shook his head. '_Nah, can't tell her that yet... I should let Jim tell her'_ McCoy moved to the nearest comm. panel and contacted the bridge. "Captain, the girl's awake."

Kirk's voice floated down through the comm. _"Thanks Bones, I'll be there in a moment."_

"Bring Spock, too," McCoy quickly interjected as an afterthought before Kirk could cut the connection. "I think he might be able to make more sense of this situation than we can."

_"Why's that, Bones?"_

"I just have a hunch," McCoy replied before closing the channel and turning back to Aura's bed.

* * *

On the bridge, Kirk shrugged and turned to Spock. "What do you think he means by that?"

"I do not know, Captain. Since the doctor clearly does not approve of my social skills or lack thereof in his eyes, I can only assume that he believes I may be able to play a role that neither you nor he could fulfil."

Kirk shrugged again as he got up and headed for the turbolift with a smile. "If that's the case, maybe he's just looking for someone who's patient."

If he had been human, Spock would have shrugged. "Perhaps. We will know once we are there."

Kirk twisted the turbolift handle and vocally input their destination. "What do you make of her, Spock?"

"She is a child, possessing an appearance and likely a biology similar to that of a Terran fox. However, her body structure is clearly bipedal, rather than quadrupedal. Her appearance could be said to be like that of a fox and a common biped combined." Spock paused. "Obviously her psychological profile is impossible to determine at this time."

"Something else Bones might want you for?" Kirk asked. "Make sure she doesn't have a screw loose or something from being down on that planet by herself?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Doctor McCoy has an entire staff of well-trained medics and psychologists at his disposal. He would not ask my assistance in such a matter as that. We will simply have to ask the good doctor what it is he requires of me."

The turbolift door opened and Kirk and Spock made their way to Sickbay.

* * *

**Authors note: **If anybody is interested, a profile of Aura has been added to my profile in case anybody wants more information about her.


	3. In which there is an impressive demo

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter three** - In which there is an impressive demonstration

* * *

"This place is amazing," Aura said, her eyes wide as she gazed around. "What does all this stuff do?"

McCoy chuckled lightly. "It makes you well, which is what you'll be if you stay in bed for a bit longer."

Aura frowned. She hated to be kept in bed, preferring to be up and about all the time, causing her brother to call her 'Sparky' because as he had said, she had unlimited energy each and every day. "How much longer?"

"A day or two. You still need to rest up." McCoy told her. "You may feel fine at the moment, but I want to make sure you don't get ill again."

Aura sighed and sank back down on the bed. "I guess so..."

She wasn't nearly as unhappy as she let on. After all, these people had saved her from what had seemed - and sounded - like certain death on that planet, which had felt inhospitable to the extreme and knew she was incredibly lucky to have been found by these people and brought onto their spaceship, so while she was annoyed at not being able to get up, Aura was prepared to follow their orders.

At least for now.

Aura glanced over as two other people entered Sickbay, noticing that one had a uniform top a different colour from that of Doctor McCoy's, though the other man's was the same. She took them both to be human, as her eyes were still having a bit of a hard time focusing, but could see that the ears of one were slightly pointed as they stood beside her bed, which was interested, but not all that remarkable after Aura considered the wide range of creatures she had already seen.

"Hello," She greeted politely. "You must be that captain he talked about."

Kirk smiled. "Yes, I'm Captain Kirk, and you are?"

"Oh!" Aura smiled back. "I'm Aura Starfire."

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Starfire," Kirk replied. He indicated to his left. "This is my First Officer, Spock, and you already know Doctor McCoy."

Aura nodded in assent.

"Now, we need to know how you got here."

"I already told Doctor McCoy," Aura replied but explained again, enjoying being able to show off her powers to somebody who would believe her.

When she finished, Kirk had a thoughtful look on his face. "And you don't know how you got this ability?"

Aura shook her head. "No. I don't know why I have it, but I'm glad I do."

"And why is that?" Spock asked.

"Because I've been to places where I really needed it to get out of bad sit..." Aura frowned, trying to latch onto the word. "Sit... sit..."

"Situations?" Kirk supplied.

"That's it." Aura smiled. "Situations"

Kirk smiled. "Ours isn't the best of languages, I'm afraid."

"I know, I try anyway"

"That's all that matters," Kirk told her.

"Indeed," Spock intoned. "However, whilst the power you claim to possess appears impressive, surely you understand that there will be some doubt as to it's existence until we have been shown proof."

Aura bristled at this obvious scepticism, but told herself to calm down. "I guess if it was the other way around, I wouldn't believe it" She turned to Doctor McCoy. "I don't have enough energy to show you how I can teleport, but can I at least use my hands for a minute?"

McCoy nodded. "Just don't get out of bed and it'll be all right."

Aura nodded, and turned back to Kirk and Spock. "Okay. I'll prove that I at least have some kind of power" She pulled her hands up and balled her fists, then extended her index fingers and brought them to within a couple inches of each other.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated and soon sparks of electricity jumped between her fingers.

Kirk and McCoy almost leapt back in surprise whilst Spock remained impassive.

McCoy immediately activated his scanners. "That wasn't just static electricity, that had to be something else..."

Concentrating even further, Aura managed to hold a small ball of blue energy in her hands. She kept it there for less than a minute before she could hold it no longer and had to let go, panting hard, spots swimming in front of her eyes, and feeling incredibly tired. It had taken more out of her than she realized, but she hoped it would be enough to convince them.

"Amazing..." Kirk breathed, as McCoy waved his scanner over Aura.

Spock, too, was intrigued - for a living being to have this sort of ability would seem impossible, but here he was, seeing it for himself. "Fascinating."

Aura slumped back on the bed and looked up at them through half-lidded eyes. "...was that enough?"

Kirk nodded wordlessly, as did McCoy. Spock did not nod, but he had an eyebrow raised. "I believe you have proven your point, Miss Starfire."

Aura nodded and yawned. "Good. That took a lot out of me. Still not at full power. Won't be for a while..."

"Which is why you'll have to stay in bed," McCoy said as Aura's voice trailed off and her eyes slid closed. "Take a nap, kid. I'll make sure you don't get bored when you wake up."

Aura was already asleep and didn't answer.

Kirk and McCoy looked at each other.

McCoy scratched his head. "Well, I think we got shown something."

Kirk nodded. "Definitely."

"How do you think she'd react to knowing that the planet blew up less than an hour after we left?"

Kirk chuckled. "Probably _very_ relieved."

"Jim, what's going to happen when she wakes up again?" McCoy frowned. "If what she said is true, she doesn't belong here."

"When she has enough power to leave again, she probably will," Kirk replied. "Though it would be a pity if she left without learning anything, hopping from dimension to dimension without taking a break."

Spock answered. "Then we must endeavour to teach her the basics of our culture."

"Hold on, here!" McCoy barked. "You're looking to school this kid?"

"Not necessarily, Bones," Kirk replied. "Just show her a few things."

"This ship is part of Starfleet! It's a military vessel! You can't just go showing a civilian around, and you know that."

"Why, Bones, I do believe you're getting angry over nothing," said Kirk. "We've had civilians aboard before, and you had no problem with them."

"Yeah, visitors from our own universe." McCoy grumbled.

"She has been to other universes, if what she has told us is true. I would be inclined to believe that she learned valuable information in those and can be trusted with it." Kirk pointed out.

McCoy growled, but made no audible comment, choosing to shoot a sharp glance at Spock, who wisely remained silent.

Kirk pressed the issue. "Bones, she's a visitor to our universe, not to mention the ship. If she wishes to stay here for a period of time, we'll need to fill her in on basic information she'd need to know."

"I know that! Doesn't mean I have to like it though," McCoy sighed. "What if she's dangerous? I know she looks young, but appearances can be deceiving y'know - remember those tribbles - they were cute but trouble."

"Then take advantage of what time you've got for testing and studying," Kirk replied reasonably. "Figure out how she got her abilities, if you can."

"Sounds like a challenge, Jim" McCoy said with a faint smile.

"Perhaps."

"In the meantime, Captain, we must continue our research," said Spock.

"Right," said Kirk. "Let's get back to the bridge. We'll worry about our passenger later"

McCoy remained in Sickbay, where he dealt with other injuries and illnesses to the crew of the ship at the same time as keeping an eye on their visitor, the trick she had done earlier obviously zapping her of a lot of strength as she slept deeply.

At the time, McCoy hadn't known how much it would drain her, but as the hours passed and Aura continued to sleep, he wondered if she had done not because she had believed it wouldn't do her any damage, but had desperately wanted to prove to them that she had been telling the truth.

If it was the latter, he didn't feel good about it.

* * *

A full day had passed when the readings above the bio-bed started to worry McCoy.

Soon after, Aura began to shiver and McCoy could only guess as to what was causing it when he initiated several scans at once, but found nothing of concern. She had a slight fever, but there was no trace of pneumonia or hypothermia in her system and seemed to be recovering well.

He monitored her neural activity and noted she was in Stage 1 REM sleep, in which case her restless sleep could have been attributed to random neuron firings whilst in the throes of a nightmare.

For most humans, such movement was impossible, but then again, Aura was far from human.

He could only hope that his diagnosis was correct and that she would come out of it soon.


	4. In which a young child causes a problem

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter four** - In which a young child causes a large problem.

* * *

_Darkness - this was Aura's first thought as she became aware of her surroundings._

_Her body appeared to be floating, and every few moments she bobbed up and down as air rushed past. It cooled her fur, but provided little relief otherwise as she found she couldn't breathe, gasping in short bursts, her fear only mounting more when she was plunged into darkness, suddenly finding herself unable to see, hear or feel anything at all._

_This lack of stimuli frightened her and whimpers came from Aura's throat, though she was unaware of making them._

_With no sounds to hear, no images to see and nothing to feel, the sterileness of her surroundings was almost too much to bear._

_Then, in a split second, the darkness lifted like a blanket and Aura found herself sitting on the ground._

_Beneath her were the cobbled stones of a street, and the haziness of early evening hung in the air. There were lights, somewhere, for dimness shone down enough to see with. After the darkness it was a welcome relief, and as sound returned, she felt her fear fade away._

_Then a figure loomed over her._

_A familiar and terrifying figure._

_Unable to know that this was just a dream, Aura froze._

_Scrambling onto unsteady feet, facing the blaster the robot held at her, Aura could hear footsteps, hurried and barely audible above the humming of the weapon as it charged. The wind, howling in her ears also masked the arrival of the figure, which jumped in front of her as the robot fired._

_After that, the imaginary broke into a twisted slide show._

_Aura screamed, seeing the figure lying there, tired, then still and peaceful._

_Gone._

* * *

McCoy jumped as a frenzied beeping came from the chart beside Aura's bed. and looking at the figures, he was troubled by the drastic changes from the last time he had checked.

Then a sound from behind caught his attention.

He turned and was startled to see Aura standing by the end of the bed, grabbing onto the rail and staring at him through feverish and clouded eyes, fogged by the fear and terror instilled by her nightmares.

Worried, McCoy moved his hand slowly to the table beside him. Finding a hypo there, prepared earlier just in case something like this would happen, he slid it into his hand and stepped forward carefully, but before he could react, Aura scrambled away and through the nearest exit.

McCoy bolted after her, but Aura, being possessed of legs more suited for running had a head start, and was rounding the next corner just as McCoy left Sickbay.

"Stop that kid!" McCoy shouted.

The nearby crewmen looked at him with a measure of surprise - Aura had moved so quickly that a couple of them had not even seen her. One did, but when he tried to stop the runaway patient he cried out as pain spasmed through his body and he let go. McCoy stopped to check the man was okay, guessing that Aura had transmitted a small electrical charge through him, and that the crewman was unharmed, though slightly bewildered and shocked by the experience.

He continued running but soon came to a halt as he came to the end of the corridor and found two different ways to go presenting themselves to him.

Groaning and rubbing his eyes, McCoy realised he had lost her.

Admitting defeat, and walking to the side of the corridor to use a comm-link on the wall, he decided to see if the Captain could find her. From what they already knew, Aura could be dangerous in this state and McCoy would need a sedative much stronger than the hypo to knock her out.

Meaning that whilst he was fetching it, someone else would need to find her before she could do any damage.

* * *

Up on the bridge, Kirk got the message. "Spock, begin a shipwide scan - search for that girl!"

Spock nodded and tapped away at his console. The parameters he input were set to notify him of any life forms that did not have a file in the racial database, logically determining that the girl would be in that category, as he was reasonably sure they had never encountered any alien of her type.

Moments later, a blip appeared on Spock's screens - she was in a turbolift.

"Highly illogical," he murmured.

"Seal that turbolift!" Kirk ordered "We need to keep here in there long enough for Doctor McCoy to get the sedative."

Chekov nodded and after pressing a few buttons, it was done.

"She may attempt to teleport out of the turbolift captain," Spock pointed out "Though it is unlikely. In this state I doubt she would have either the energy or concentration to do so, however we cannot eliminate it as a possibility."

"We don't know exactly those powers she claims to have work." Kirk said "Anything may be possible."

"Indeed captain." Spock answered dryly, turning his attention back to the science station.

A minute later screens indicated she was out of the turbolift.

For a moment Kirk thought that Spock must have been wrong, but didn't say it out loud and a moment later he was proved wrong himself when Spock relayed there was a malfunction in the turbolift.

"It would appear she did not need to teleport Captain" Spock raised an eyebrow. "Since she has just utilized her electrical manipulation to cause a short in the turbolift circuitry"

"What's her destination?" Kirk barked to Chekov.

Chekov's eyes went wide with surprise, studying his controls. "The bridge, keptin."

Tense moments later, the turbolift door on the left slid open, revealing Aura huddled into a ball, sobbing quietly with both arms drawn around her body.

All on the bridge were at a loss of what to do.

Finally, Spock came forward and knelt down beside her.

Aura seemed to hear him and raised her head, but her eyes were still clouded and she did not seem to recognize him.

"Miss Starfire, please do not worry, you are safe here." Spock spoke softly, trying to reassure her.

Aura's eyes grew wide and she backed away, scrabbling on the floor to try and push herself up with tears running down her cheeks and red eyes. "You're... You're lying!" she sobbed. "You want to hurt me like the robot did... Like..." Her voice choked at this point "Like he hurt my brother..."

Spock could see her distress clearly. Her feverish eyes darted back and forth incessantly, both hands balled into fists, which were clenching and unclenching quickly and beads of sweat ran down her fur, mixed with tears, and though he could not offer her comfort of a physical nature, he could at least try to ally her fears somewhat. "I promise that I will not hurt you."

Aura seemed to calm slightly, allowing her hands to fall to her side. "R... Really?"

"Yes" Spock said, offering a hand for Aura to grasp so she could stand fully upright.

Unfortunately, McCoy chose that very moment to appear in the other turbolift, holding a hypospray in one hand.

When Aura saw it, her eyes widened and she pushed herself free of Spock's help, shaking with fear and anger. "You LIED!" she shouted, clenching one fist, which crackled with the limited energy she had. "You said you wouldn't hurt me and he wants to hurt me! I... I won't let you!"

Kirk carefully stood up and stepped toward Chekov. Leaning down, he kept his voice low. "Make sure those turbolifts are sealed. I don't want her trying to get out and wreck havoc on the ship."

Chekov nodded wordlessly and manipulated his console accordingly.

Spock held his hands out toward Aura as he stepped inch by inch, closer to her. "I carry no weapons and Doctor McCoy will not harm you, I can assure you of that" He kept his voice calm, but it did not seem to placate Aura and if anything made her more wary. Spock found it illogical, but McCoy and Kirk could understand why she was so nervous - she was a child in an unknown situation and still unwell, making for a combination that at any age would be frightening.

"You can't!" Aura aimed a hand at him, static visibly crackling between her fingers. "You all want to hurt me!"

"Would you hurt an unarmed man?" Spock asked reasonably. "I do not wish to harm you, I wish to help you."

"No you don't! You want to hurt me!" Aura cried, but the Vulcan's trained eye saw a slight decrease in the static electricity from her palms.

"That is not the case," Spock said firmly, knowing he was getting through to her. "I wish to show you something personal."

"Spock..." McCoy warned in a low tone, having a very good idea of what Spock was planning.

"What kind of thing?" Aura asked, her interest peaked slightly, and she moved a bit closer.

"If you shall let me show you, I will."

Aura paused, the static on her hands still crackling, then she nodded slowly and it diminished until it had stopped completely.

Spock stepped forward.

Aura bristled, but stood still and allowed him to place both hands on her head which felt ice cold on her feverish fur despite his higher body temperature.

As both their eyes closed, Spock took a deep breath as he entered her mind.

* * *

_Somehow she was home._

_The forests of Mobius were beautiful, but Aura found herself wondering how she had gotten there. Still, she started counting her blessings, remembering how frightened she had just been, wherever she had just been, for those memories were now hazy, but all she felt now was calm and peaceful._

_She must have initiated a dimensional teleportation, though she had no recollection of doing so._

_Feeling strong arms embrace her gently from behind, Aura allowed herself to sink into the embrace. A contented smile grew across her face, and she closed her eyes, feelings of warmth and happiness surrounding her. Then she turned to see who it was that was hugging her, and almost jumped away in surprise._

_"Spock?"_

_"Yes, Miss Starfire." _

_"How can you be here? I..." Aura paused, swallowing past a lump in her throat. "I thought you were my brother."_

_Her sadness and disappointment changed their surroundings, and suddenly the forest was replaced with a nightmarish metal city._

_"You have been to many realities, yet you wish to return to this one small world, even with all this destruction, for the sake of your family?" Spock asked._

_Aura nodded mutely, "Part of me does... I mean, it's my home, even like this." Her head dipped and she started sobbing. "B... But even if I did, I can't see them. They're all gone, all dead, all in this madness."_

_Spock did not move, but allowed her to clench her arms around him and cry._

_The scene around them changed to a town setting, with houses bathed in the glow of early evening._

_The only people visible were a younger version of Aura and an older male of the same species and Aura was frozen in fear as they watched a robot fire a laser just as the older figure jumped between them. Then the scene changed again to hazy memories of a fire, and an even younger Aura._

_All these memories projected sadness, grief and terror, with no uplifting feelings at all._

_Tears streamed down Aura's face, and she twisted around in Spock's arms, burying her face in his chest. He held her gently, but did not take his eyes off the scenes that flashed before both of them. For a few moments, they hovered over an endless expanse of water, a dark and starry sky overhead, two moons in the distance._

_"Fascinating," Spock said. "I understand now your incredulity of our universe. I assure you that though all that occurs aboard the Enterprise is not typical of a vast majority of the rest of the universe. There are many differences and similarities to be found."_

_Aura looked up and smiled sadly. "I know. Despite all the strange things I've seen, your reality has been one of the most welcoming I've seen so far." Her voice grew angry "When I realized I could go to different dimensions, I hoped I'd arrive somewhere safe, but if anything, the places I've been to have been even more dangerous than my own home could have ever been."_

_Images of her visits to other realities took form around them, and Spock found the human side of himself somewhat horrified by what he saw. It wasn't hard to understand how his universe could seem welcoming compared to these others._

_Then a pair of gargantuan, dark eyes loomed before them. Set inside a round, bald head, its contorted face sported a moustache that reached almost past the shoulders. Soon, a large, extremely portly figure sporting red and black was revealed in the middle of the starry sky and laughed maniacally, his deep voice booming across the waters._

_Aura paled and Spock had to keep a tight hold on her so she did not faint and with his keen Vulcan hearing could hear her whisper one word._

_"Robotnik..."_

_Aura felt sick seeing him again._

_Her senses told her to run, but she couldn't._

_It was the same again and this time he would hurt Spock, just like his robots had hurt her brother._

**_'Bye Sparky...'_**

_"Kharis..."_

_Spock held Aura even more tightly, allowing the human side of himself to take over and whisking both of them away to the dry, sandy planet of Vulcan. Aura didn't need to see these memories right now, sensing they were, at this point, still too much to bear. Spock also knew that it was not logical to run from problems forever, as he had done with his father, but for now it would do Aura little good to remember._

_Only when the brisk winds of Vulcan whipped at her back did she realize that Spock was now controlling the mind meld he had initiated._

_Spock allowed his embrace to loosen, and she slipped out of his hold._

_Softly, so softly that the words were almost lost to the wind, Spock spoke, "Do you hate humans?"_

_Aura's eyes grew hard. "I can't help it! I've only met a few friendly humans, all the others are so mean to me, and if they are nice it's only because they're pretending to be! It's dangerous for me to trust them!" Aura paused as she felt the cool wind and a thought came to her. "But the crew here is nice and I know Robotnik used to be a good person, so maybe there are other kind humans out there and if I keep going, I'll probably find them."_

_"You cannot run forever." Spock said quietly._

_"I know, but I don't want to go back home. I can't face it yet." Aura sat on the rocky ground, trying to clear her eyes of the tears that had welled up, but not escaped. "Spock, how can your universe be so accepting of me when so many others have been hostile?"_

_"We have encountered many forms of life throughout the galaxy," Spock answered. "And for those of us on the Enterprise, even the bizarre becomes normal. Your appearance hardly fazes anyone because we have become accustomed to aliens of many appearances and Starfleet takes pride in the diversity of people they make contact with."_

_"...I'm glad that I had the chance to see a peaceful place after so many hostile ones."_

_Spock raised an eyebrow, "Your choice of words does not make sense. You will undoubtedly see many more worlds in your quest."_

_Aura didn't answer._

_Spock noticed her eyes shone as she slumped forward slightly._

_Something had gone wrong._

_The most likely possibility was that Doctor McCoy had arranged for Aura to be taken back to Sickbay, which would necessitate his transportation there as well for the physical connection needed for the meld - i.e. his hand on Aura's temple - to remain until he broke the connection, but that something - such as the stress placed on the ship's internal dampers - and movement of the gurneys had caused his fingers to move slightly, just enough for the connection to be disrupted._

_"Spock, what's happening?"_

_"I shall hold onto your consciousness within my own until Doctor McCoy rectifies the situation." Spock assured Aura.. "Do not be afraid, I shall let nothing happen to you."_

_Aura could sense something was wrong, and clung to Spock's arm._

_Spock felt the meld being reinstated, but knew that he still had to get Aura back into her own body. It would cause them both injury, from the strain already placed on him and the illness that still affected Aura, but had to be done. He could feel her agitation growing and tried to work as quickly as possible, knowing that with each passing moment, Aura's body would get weaker._

_Then something unexpected happened._

* * *

In Sickbay, McCoy jumped back as Aura's literally mindless body began to release its restrained power and lightning crackling around her, engulfing Spock and the biobeds, reaching out to everything that could be touched.

Then it jolted the main computer terminal and began invading the entire ship.

Aura's latent - and now uncontrollable - transdimensional teleportation abilities had taken effect and her powers now ran wild, unchecked and rampant.

The _Enterprise_ disappeared.

* * *

"Chekov, report!"

"Keptin, it appears ve have transported through some sort of rift." Chekov responded.

"Navigation is down," Sulu supplemented. "Captain, this is odd... We seem to have entered geosynchronous orbit of a planet."

Kirk frowned. "A planet? We were in deep space just a moment ago. Put it on screen!"

There on the screen for all to see, was a planet lush with greenery, sparkling with blue oceans, and accentuated with tan plains.

Sulu straightened up in his seat. "Captain, records indicate our coordinates correlate with the position of the planet Mobius."

"But that planet is dead" Kirk mused, recalling the last ship to come through that sector. "We're not even close to the area that planet is in"

"Well Captain, whether it's inhabited or not, we are definitely orbiting the planet."

"How did we get here?"

"Perhaps that strange energy surge did something to the ship, like some sort of portal..." Sulu shrugged, at a loss for an explanation.

"Portal..." Kirk sat deep in thought for a second before it struck him.

A portal - like some sort of teleportation.

The girl!

Giving the conn to Sulu, Kirk left the bridge for Sickbay, the frown on his face surprising the crewmen he passed on the way.

Whatever had happened, Kirk had a feeling that their visitor had something to do with it.


	5. In which Spock vanishes

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter five** - In which Spock vanishes.

* * *

Kirk practically barrelled through the door to Sickbay and frowned at the sight before him.

McCoy and a team of medics were gathered around Aura, running scan after scan. To their left he spotted a charred computer terminal that looked like a direct hit from a phaser had been scored on it, and to their right Spock seemed to only be half-conscious, lying on the biobed with several more medics at his side.

"Bones!" Kirk snapped. "What happened?"

"Don't ask me!" McCoy snapped back. "All I know is that both of them were in that meld, then she started glowing with the same kinda light as before. Then it pretty much spread all over the console, I'm nearly knocked off my feet and when I get my bearings the terminal was fried. You tell me what happened, because I don't have a clue!"

"Apparently we're above a planet called Mobius." Kirk stared at the console. "But we're not even in that sector."

McCoy frowned, catching onto what Kirk was hinting at, then turned as Spock sat up on the other bio-bed. He stared at Kirk, blankly at first, but then recognition filled his eyes.

"Captain, did you say Mobius?"

Kirk nodded. "Yes. Recall the surveys done by..."

"What class of planet is it?"

"Class M. It doesn't fit."

Spock's entire brow rose. "Perhaps not here, but Mobius as a Class M planet would 'fit' if it were the planet that Aura came from."

Kirk's expression darkened. "What?"

Spock swung his legs over the side of the biobed, ignoring McCoy's protests. "Whilst in the meld, I experienced what were memories of when Aura still resided on her planet, including those which I believe hold the reason as to why she left." Spock did not elaborate on that and continued. "When the meld was disrupted, she became agitated and panicked. Her teleportation abilities must have been used and interacted with the ship, which is why we are here now."

Kirk nodded. "Okay, but why here?"

Spock raised an eyebrow as his version of a sigh. "As I was about to explain, Captain, when Aura began to use her power the memories she had been experiencing were of her planet, therefore it is logical to assume that they are the cause for our current location."

"She brought our entire ship here because of a memory?" Kirk stared at the other biobed where Aura was lying - how could one being hold so much power?

"That is the most probable explanation."

Kirk sighed. "I don't like this Spock. I want the ship back where it belongs. Can she do that?"

"Not at the present time."

Kirk made another annoyed sound. "The longer we stay here, the less happy I'll be about it." He turned to McCoy. "Bones, I hope you've got a miracle up your sleeve, because we're going to need Aura to take us back."

"Well, she'll be fine in a day or two." McCoy finished the scan. "But for now she's far too weak to do anything."

As if on cue - and contradicting what he had said - Aura suddenly bolted upright.

McCoy saw the clouded eyes and realised she was still in the grips of fever, but less concerned with being wrong and more with making sure she didn't hurt herself, he took a step towards her, but Aura took one glance at them all, scrambled from the biobed and headed for the door.

"Get her!" McCoy yelled.

Kirk was nearest to the door, and tried to stop her escaping, but obviously Aura was having none of this as she ran at him, bringing her hands in front of her and realising too late what was happening he fell to the ground as the electrical charge sent a wave of pain through his body.

Spock was still disorientated from the meld, but moved quickly after her.

McCoy and Kirk followed behind.

* * *

As she rushed through the corridors of the _Enterprise_, one thing echoed in Aura's mind.

_'Mobius. They said Mobius. My Mobius. My home.' _Through the meld she had learned a little about the course of the ship's interior and knew that the nearest viewport was only a few meters and a right turn away.

_'I have to see it. I have to see if it's true.' _Aura slid to a halt.

The viewport was attached to an airlock and she was only a few button presses away from causing explosive decompression if she so desired, but that wasn't what she had in mind.

She simply wanted to see.

The planet below was a mass of green and blue, much like the Earth, but she recognised major landmasses. The largest of these was the Mainland, while off the eastern side, though far too small to see, was be the island where she had been born, and on the eastern region of the Mainland - Elhannon - was where Azure City was, where Kharis had taken her to live just before she had started school.

Tears started to fall from her eyes, but she made no move to wipe them away.

_'I don't want to go back, yet I do...' _How could she decide?

On one hand, she desperately missed being around her own kind, not having to worry about surviving on her own or arriving somewhere where she might be attacked because of her appearance; but on the other hand, there was the fear and terror she felt seeing that blue robot kill her brother, and the hazy memories of the fire years before when her parents had died.

Aura squeezed her eyes shut.

No, she couldn't go home.

In a split-second however her decision was made as McCoy and Spock came around the corner, Kirk lagging slightly behind. Confused and unwell, she viewed them as a threat, and as much as she hated to return, her mind told her that Mobius was the safest place to be right now and tapping into the powers within her - the powers that even their technology might never understand - she disapeared.

"I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it." McCoy gasped, staring at the place where Aura had just been.

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Fascinating."

"Great!" McCoy muttered, throwing his arms in the air and crossing them over his chest. "Guess we know she was telling the truth now..." He stopped his tirade and frowned. "I just hope the kid's okay, she didn't look at all good just then - "

Spock nodded.

McCoy sighed. " - and as much as I hate to admit it, we need to find her. She might be back where she belongs but we don't know if she's okay. Plus that kid might be our only ticket back to where we came from."

Kirk could still feel his muscles spasm as he straightened up and winced. "There's also another thing to consider. According to the readings that Sulu gave me when we arrived here, they indicate that as well as the dimensional shift we also seem to have travelled back in time."

"Damned warp engines!" McCoy fumed. "They can't even keep us in our own timeline anymore!"

With nothing else they could do there, they returned to Sickbay, but if they had looked out of the viewport and strained their eyes, they might just have been able to see a speck of grey contrasted against the light bouncing off the giant globe of Mobius and might even have been able to see arms and legs flailing about as the speck tried to find air where there was none.

But why would they do that?

* * *

_'Where am I?'_Aura could feel herself floating and a great sense of panic welled up inside her as she opened her eyes and saw the _Enterprise _far away, while Mobius was below her.

Her eyes grew wide as she took in these facts.

It didn't seem possible, but she was floating in space and was still alive.

Luckily she had been short of breath because of her dash through the corridors and had expelled it all when she had teleported, otherwise the expanding gas in her lungs would have been enough to break every rib in her torso. As it was, she was still violently and suddenly deprived of what air there had been in her lungs, and the instant her eyes had opened the moisture covering them had frozen.

The vacuum all around her felt like millions of icy needles stabbing her anywhere and everywhere. It was by far the most painful thing she had ever experienced in her life and Aura clawed at her throat, trying to find air where there was none to be found.

Her head swung around to the planet below.

_'I can't let that be the last thing I see... I'm too close.' _Aura's mind swirled with all the painful memories she had seen just before in the meld with Spock, but she knew she had to try again - if she had managed to get this far, then perhaps if she tried hard enough she could make it the rest of the way there.

The spark of power inside her was small, almost indistinguishable from the feeling of her racing heart, but as she concentrated on it, Aura felt it encompass her in response.

Again she disappeared, unaware that this time she was taking somebody with her.

On the bridge of the _Enterprise_, Kirk's jaw dropped open, as did those of everyone else on the bridge as Spock suddenly vanished into thin air.

"Chekov, what the hell just happened?"

"H-he must have been transported," Chekov responded, frantically turning back to his instruments.

"To where!?"

"I don't know, sir. Shields are up. There should be no vay that Spock could have been transported to another ship."

"Then could he have been transported to somewhere else within the _Enterprise_?"

Chekov ran a quick security screen, then shook his head grimly. "No, sir. Transporter logs do not indicate that the transporters vere used recently, and security screens do not show Spock's bio-signature."

"Great" Kirk groaned, grasping the arm of his chair as he watched Chekov. "First that kid disappears, and then Spock."

"Captain." Chekov spoke up "If our passenger disappeared, do you not think it might be possible that she had something to do with Mr Spock's sudden departure as vell?"

Kirk nodded. "You're right, that could be possible."

McCoy, standing beside the chair, sighed as he came to thee obvious conclusion. "I'll go get the medical kit." If Kirk ended up going down, which McCoy was sure he would, well then he went too, otherwise who knew what his friend would get himself into.

"Let us hope that you will not disappear as well Keptin." Chekov interjected with a smile.

"Aura didn't just disappear, Chekov. She teleported into space, and it's a miracle she's still alive. She's gonna need medical attention," McCoy grumbled as he passed by the station.

Chekov's ears turned red. "Yes, Doctor."

McCoy knew that these people were simply doing their jobs, but he didn't like how they sometimes refused to acknowledge the full scale of what happened.

Then again, he supposed, if they did they might go insane. Especially on the _Enterprise_.

He sighed as he retrieved his medical kit from Sickbay and went to wait for Kirk in the transporter room.

The last thing Spock remembered was standing on the bridge with the Captain, then a strange, dizzying sensation that had gone through his body and masked or erased the next few seconds from his mind, for the next thing Spock knew, he was standing on solid ground in a woodland, and that lying beside him was Aura.

Realising she must have taken him with her somehow, Spock checked her pulse. It seemed strong, but her breathing was still harsh and her forehead slightly warm. It was by all rights miraculous that she was still alive at all, having been out in space for more than three minutes - the amount of time it had taken to get to the bridge and begin a scan for her bio-signature - but while Aura had not looked well before, now she looked near to death.

When Spock had first realized what had happened a few moments before, it was largely due to the rasping sound of Aura's breathing as she desperately consumed air. Now he frowned again - Aura's eyeballs looked frozen and bloodshot, her fur was stiff and Spock could only hope that her blood had not boiled too severely within her veins. He was certain that it had to some extent, but nonetheless he hoped that it had not been too severe.

Spock sat down and meditated - there was nothing he could do for her at the moment, so he receded into his own world, though ever watchful of Aura.

* * *

**Authors note: **I am aiming for Sunday and Thursday updates, so I apologise for the delay in updating chapter four. Enjoy this chapter!


	6. In which the natives are encountered

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter six** - In which several natives of Mobius are encountered.

* * *

Kirk and McCoy strode down the corridors of the _Enterprise_ together.

Both were frustrated, but Kirk couldn't help but feel a small bit of humour at the situation.

When he had woken up that morning, he had expected to finish the sweep of the sector and head for the starbase for some much needed R&R. Instead they had ended up rescuing an unknown alien life-form from one of the uninhabited planets who had revealed herself as being from another dimension, was able to move across them at will and also possessed the capacity to use electrokinesis - as Kirk had discovered first hand. Then, to top it all off, she had teleported herself and the entire ship to her own dimension, above her own planet and then taken herself and Spock down there.

Well, in a way it seemed funny - more amusing was that it just seemed like a normal day for the _Enterprise_.

McCoy caught his eye. "What on Earth are you smiling at Jim? How can you smile now?"

"It always has to be us, doesn't it." Kirk mused. "Always our ship, our crew..."

"About damn time you noticed!" McCoy grated, getting into his stride. "What is it about the _Enterprise_ that attracts all these strange things and encounters?"

"I don't know." Kirk admitted. "But it's done us a lot in the way of advancing our understanding of the universe."

"Bah. Far as I'm concerned, it hasn't done all that much to get through that thick skull of yours."

Kirk shook his head, grinning. "Doctor, I order you to shut up."

McCoy growled. "Yes, SIR."

Kirk allowed himself a smug smile. "My turn to exercise final authority."

"Yes." McCoy grumbled. " - and you always end up abusing it. Damn you."

* * *

Down in the forests of Mobius, Spock sat and meditated, patiently waiting.

He knew there was no logical point in getting concerned - the _Enterprise_ would find them soon and if for any reason were unable to beam them up would find an alternative mode of transportation.

Close by him, Aura shifted - obviously she had been dreaming again of happier times and didn't want to wake, but finally gave up and allowed herself to rise to consciousness. Soon she became aware of somebody nearby and opened her eyes to see Spock watching.

Aura stretched and stood with his support.

"I am grateful to see you have suffered no permanent ill effects." Spock nodded. "This is quite a fortuitous achievement considering that you were stranded in space for approximately three point two minutes."

Aura nodded slowly.

Then she looked around and realised where she was, her eyes glistening in wonder and fear.

Spock sensed her mixture of emotions, which were not helped by her physical condition. Though she had not been injured seriously, her eyes were red and bloodshot, the vessels within them having burst and she also shivered uncontrollably with a combination of cold and lingering fever. Bringing her hands to her upper arms, she rubbed them up and down to try and return the circulation, but this would only add to the turmoil that now raced through her mind.

"C...c...cold..." Aura whispered, her throat raw.

She reached out to Spock, recalling the warmth she had felt when he had embraced her in the comfort of their minds, unaware that his species was not one for touching, but at that moment Spock understood that the logic of giving her what she needed took precedence, especially since she might be the only person who could get them back to their own dimension.

So he knelt down and took her into his arms, understanding her need for both warmth and company as she cried against him. He could guess what Aura was thinking - she was finally home, but she didn't know if she wanted to be here and all she could think about was how very much she wanted to be held.

Soon she fell back into a more comfortable sleep.

Since Doctor McCoy was not present and Spock himself possessed little medical knowledge aside from Starfleet's basic training, Spock had a problem. As much as he disliked the notion, without a way to contact the ship and with Aura in need of medical attention, he knew that he would need to obtain help from the natives - hopefully any fear they felt from his appearance could be allayed with help from Aura when she woke up again.

His decision made, Spock stood up and carefully cradled Aura in his arms as he began searching for a path through the forest.

* * *

Back on the bridge and despite his previous good humour, Kirk was fast becoming aggravated with everything that was happening - or more to the point, everything that wasn't happening.  
He wanted to be in the middle of the action, to find Spock, to protect his crew, to get out of this place and out of this time - but he couldn't do any of those things.

As captain of the _Enterprise_, it was his obligation to remain aboard the ship and coordinate the efforts to find his missing crewman. Of course, technically speaking, any away team should be led by his first officer, so Kirk found it ironically appropriate that his first officer had been the one Aura had chosen to take down to the planet with her.

That was assuming they were on the planet at all.

The thought made Kirk shudder.

Finally, he couldn't take it any longer, knowing that his friend was in danger, and leaving the conn to Mr Scott made his way down to the transporter room.

Bones hadn't been hovering around him as usual. After storming off, muttering about damn Vulcan's and stubborn starship captains, Kirk knew he had gone to pack his usual medkit of the things he would need to patch Spock and Kirk up after another one of their missions and was probably already expecting Kirk in the transporter room.

He was right. McCoy was already waiting with an familiar look on his face.

Kirk suppressed a smile - some things never changed.

* * *

Spock had been following a path that seemed to have been made by the footsteps of many walking upon it when he spotted a group standing in a clearing ahead.

He stopped to watch them carefully from a distance.

There were five figures - two of the same species as Aura and three others that resembled the Terran versions of a rabbit, hare and hedgehog, with the oldest one of the foxes, who was around a foot and a half shorter than Spock. Considering Aura's own height and presumed age, Spock could deduce that this individual was not yet an adult, most likely between the ages of fifteen and seventeen.

"We need to be going, will you be able to continue alone?" The hare asked, handing over what looked to be a map.

"I should be okay." The fox nodded. "Thanks for the help."

This was a fortuitous turn - Spock thought, as his superior Vulcan hearing caught their conversation - it would be far better for just one of the natives to see him if they had not encountered a human before.

He waited as the group dispersed, with the fox studying the map for a few moments before heading in their direction.

Seeing Spock, he stopped and frowned. "Who are you?"

"My name is Spock." The Vulcan responded. "My friend is hurt, and requires medical attention. Is there a facility nearby where she might be healed?"

The fox frowned. "What do you care, obek?"

"I am not obek, I am Vulcan," Spock corrected, guessing that an obek was a subspecies of Mobian. "And it is imperative that she receive attention immediately."

"You look obekian," The fox muttered. "If you're not, why do you look so much like them?"

"My species resembles obekians in physical attributes, but we are not exactly alike. If your hostility is related to the one you call Robotnik, I assure you that I am in no way connected to him and do not believe in what he does." Spock stated, meeting his gaze. "I do not know much about him, except from what my friend here has told me, since I have just arrived, but she is in need of medical attention and I do not have sufficient knowledge to treat her."

The fox's frown deepened, but he looked at the figure in Spock's arms and nodded. "There's a healer that lives in a shack around three thousand footfalls from here. Follow me."

Spock found himself hard-pressed to keep up with the male fox, and noted to himself that he would need to visit the _Enterprise's_ gymnasium more often.

The fox looked back and paced himself, jogging alongside Spock, his frown still present. "I don't know anybody called Robotnik. The only obekian I've come into contact with is a male named Kintobor. He's kind, but usually silent, though I've not seen him for many years. Who is Robotnik?"

Spock silently cursed his slip of the tongue - the effects of the meld with Aura had forced temporary dyslexia on him. He chose his next words carefully. "He is an obekian I once knew. I assure you he will cause you no trouble in the immediate future."

The fox bobbed his head, apparently satisfied by the answer, though obviously still curious. "So who is your friend? How did you come to meet her?" He asked. "I'm sorry if I was a bit angry before, but Kintobor doesn't look exactly like an obek and neither do you."

Spock could tell that there was more to this than what the fox had said, and decided in the circumstances to exercise caution. "I know her only as Aura."

The fox raised an eyebrow. "Weird."

Spock didn't reply.

They soon reached another larger clearing in the forest, where a small wooden shack was set up. An old, frail-looking avian stood next to the shack, hunched over and embracing a cane like a lifeline.

Spock hoped this apothecary would have something to treat Aura - though they obviously did not travel through space, there were certain common herbs that could act as painkillers for even the most extreme agony and they knew her species.

The avian welcomed them and motioned for Spock to place Aura down.

He did so and stood beside the makeshift bed while the old Mobian tried to help Aura.

* * *

Back on the _Enterprise_, Kirk and McCoy were in the transporter room, preparing to leave.

McCoy was complaining about a number of things, from the situation to his usual tirade against the transporter itself - they had managed to gleam from what knowledge they had of a location, at least to the continent, but it would all depend on the seconds ahead - and while on Kirk's mind at that moment was their mission, the only thing going through McCoy's head as the transporter whisked them away was whether his atoms were finally going to be scrambled this time.

He didn't really feel anything as his body disappeared from the transporter room and reappeared soon after on the planet surface, but through the mysterious physics of the quantum level, he was still able to send messages to his disassembled molecules and tell them to shudder.

The first thing that caught his attention was the biting cold.

Opening his eyes, McCoy groaned, realising that they were standing in the north-east of the largest continent, where it's proximity to the northern pole guaranteed a perpetual winter.

Trying not to use numerous swear words, he simply chose to glare at Kirk as they both shivered, though with an icy cold wind blowing around them, words could hardly be heard anyway, so keeping close, they trudged through the frozen landscape searching for a place they could shelter in until the worst of it had passed.

Suddenly they saw a figure off in the distance, followed soon after by a smaller figure, and while both were indistinguishable, they waved, motioning for Kirk and McCoy to follow them.

Soon they could see a cave, and all four ran into it's warmth.

Kirk and McCoy now glanced at their rescuers, who were both clad in heavy coats and clothing, but soaked from the icy wind. They took them off, revealing a human of Spock's height, whose most distinctive features were the large ginger-orange moustache and hair extending several inches either side of his head, and a brown, multi-quilled figure that vaguely resembled a terran hedgehog.

Kirk wondered if he should reach for his phaser, but his mind seemed to be making the decision for him, creeping across his hip and coming to rest on the weapon - he wouldn't use it unless necessary, but experience had told him to be cautious.

The human held up his hands defensively. "Please, we are not your enemies. We only wish to help."

McCoy turned and noticed Kirk's hand resting on his phaser. "For God's sakes, Jim." He snapped. "First you say, we come in peace, then you say shoot to kill! What's wrong with you?"

Before Kirk could say anything in response, he felt a rush of cold air and noticed his phaser now rested in the hands of the young hedgehog, who was glaring at Kirk and examining the weapon carefully.

"Nobody hurts my dad."

The human took the weapon from his son's hands and gave it back to Kirk, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, Takashi can be a little impatient and I'm sure you don't mean to harm us. I must say, however, how confused I am to see humans here." He extended a hand to both Kirk and McCoy, which both shook. "My name is Ovi Kintobor. I myself came here over two decades ago through a portal I was generating. It was rather unstable though..."

His musings were cut off by Takashi. "Dad, are you sure you want to tell them?"

Kintobor adopted a fatherly smile. "They are human, Takashi. You can trust them. I believe this one came with armament simply for self-defence." His gaze drifted back up to Kirk. "Unless I am very much mistaken?"

Kirk shook his head, but smiled slightly. "No, you're not." He glared down at Takashi and frowned. "Although I'm curious as to how you managed to take my phaser from me at that speed. I've never known anyone to move that fast."

"And you likely never will again." Kintobor chuckled. "Takashi can move faster than the eye can see."

Takashi smirked.

Kintobor returned the grin, then his face grew serious. "However, I must ask that you do not tell anybody about Takashi's unique ability. My scientific work on chaos energy makes me fear for his well-being if the authorities were to find out - such an ability is not common at his age and they might think I experimented upon him."

"Yeah, so don't tell." Takashi echoed.

Kirk nodded. "You don't need to worry about that, we're just looking for a comrade. Have you seen a man wearing a uniform like his?" Kirk pointed at McCoy, who spread his arms wide for emphasis.

Kintobor shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we haven't. I would certainly remember seeing any humanoids here."

Takashi looked pointedly at his father. "Dad, when was the last time we saw _anyone_. We've been searching for ages!"

Kintobor sighed. "I know, Takashi, but the source of the power is close by, we just have to keep looking."

Kirk ignored McCoy's complaining, instead concentrating on Kintobor mentioning a power source, and a crease formed between his eyebrows. McCoy immediately spotted that crease, and he patiently waited for Kirk to open his mouth.

As soon as his prediction came true, McCoy snapped angrily. "Oh no, I know that look. Don't meddle in this stuff - it's not our business."

While Kintobor and Takashi both blinked, surprised at the strength in McCoy's words, Kirk as always ignored him, and asked Kintobor about the power source he mentioned, seeing it possibly as a way to get them back where they belonged.

To McCoy's chagrin, Kintobor seemed more than happy to share this information, launching into a detailed description of something called the chaos emeralds, which didn't please the doctor any further, though he had to admit it did sound interesting, and only vaguely noticed when Takashi's ears were alerted by a sound outside and he rushed to the cave entrance.

"...the emeralds have great power, so I intend to use them to remove all the negative chaos energy from Mobius and make it peaceful."

This all sounded extremely crazy to Kirk.

_'But then again,'_ He thought, looking back on previous missions. _'Who am I to define weird anyway.' _

Kintobor noticed his bemused expression, and chuckled. "I know that it does sound strange, but this planet, Mobius, is in so many ways different to Earth. The emeralds are just one of many things that show it. There are many others, the Mobius strip and..."

He was cut off suddenly as a scream came from outside.

"Takashi!" Kintobor cried.

All three rushed out of the cave, Kirk now with his phaser firmly in hand, and McCoy now raising no objections. Their heads whipped around wildly in search for the child, Kintobor's searching being the most frantic, though with the moustache flailing from side to side, it was almost comical.

Then Kirk spotted a brown figure about a hundred yards away. "There!"

Both McCoy and Kintobor turned around and saw where Kirk was pointing, then the three of them looked up as one, and they saw what had elicited Takashi's outcry.

Their eyes grew wide.

A huge cliff, or what they had thought to be one, was above them. It was now identified easily as a mountain, with a large amount of snow that they could see even from this distance now rushing down the side.

All three turned to each other.

Unsurprisingly, they ran.

As he did, McCoy glanced back at the entrance to the cave.

The wave of crushing snow washed over it as he watched, and it was debatable as to whether or not the cave was left standing afterwards. In any case it didn't really matter, since the only thing on his mind was getting as far away as humanly possible - that and cursing again.

Takashi, at a lively jog, came alongside Kirk, who was running at full speed, and held his hand out. "Give me your ray gun."

"What?!" Kirk snapped. "Why?"

"Just give me it!" Takashi demanded.

Kirk did so, and Takashi sped off back towards the approaching avalanche.

"Is that kid stupid or something? He'll get himself killed!" McCoy shouted above the noise.

Kintobor glanced behind him and shook his head. "Takashi knows what he's doing." He slowed down, as if to reinforce his faith in his son.

Though confused, since the snow was still coming at them with increasing speed, Kirk and McCoy slowed down as well, and watched in fascination as Takashi fired the phaser as he ran back and forth in front of the rushing snow, the red beam spearing and slicing through it again and again.

Kintobor simply crossed his arms and chuckled. "That's my boy!"

The searing energy beam dissipated the oncoming rush of snow within seconds, leaving Kirk and McCoy amazed. Takashi, on the other hand, ran back up to Kirk and faced him nonchalantly, as if it were just another day's work.

He held the phaser out to Kirk. "Thanks."

"So, what would you have done if we hadn't had that phaser?" McCoy asked, half torn with being impressed, and shouting at Takashi for being reckless, somehow having a feeling that in that respect, Takashi and James T Kirk were very alike.

Takashi smirked. "I would've got you to hold onto him, then he'd hold onto dad, and I'd hold onto dad and get us away."

"Whilst that is a good plan," Kintobor interjected. "I believe it would have proven too strenuous."

Takashi shrugged. "Well, how 'bout just spinnin' through the ground to make a trench for the snow to fall into? That might've worked."

McCoy shook his head in fascination. "Kid, you're gonna have to let me look at you before we leave."

"Aww!" Takashi complained. "You just got here and you wanna leave already?"

Kintobor shook his head resignedly. "It's a shame, really, but I understand that you most likely have business to attend to yourselves when you have found your friend." He raised his head to the sky, chuckling. "At any rate, if you hadn't been here, I might not be standing at the moment."

* * *

Meanwhile, the old apothecary had done all she could for Aura, and had left them to go to the nearby village.

Spock hadn't explained precisely what had happened to Aura, seeing no way to explain the effects of space exposure to these people without breaking the prime directive. If the captain had been here, he would undoubtedly have argued that since this was not their dimension, there was no directive anyway, but Spock would not consider it. In any case, there was no adequate answer to his question, thus, he simply sat by Aura's side and waited for her to recover.

While he did, his thought turned to the fox, who had remained with them.

With no other person to converse with, Spock had listened as the male fox had explained how he was travelling around the planet, and had met with the other members of the group when hungry and in search of a town to eat and rest a while. After they had showed him and he had eaten, they had accompanied him through the forest until he had got his bearings, which was when he had met Spock and Aura.

What made Spock curious was that he appeared to be a younger version of the person he had seen in the meld with Aura earlier, with the same shade of fur, hair and the same black tipped ears.

Watching Aura intently and hearing her breathing become more raspy, he knew she was struggling her way to consciousness and was likely to wake within the next few minutes.

Spock knew that she still needed to rest. He also suspected that once she saw the person hovering over his shoulder, she wouldn't be able to control herself, so resolving not to let that happen, he slowly reached his fingers to her face.

"I would appreciate privacy, please." Spock said to the fox, who had noticed his movements and was watching intently.

The boy shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."

At this moment a quote by McCoy, which had been said shortly after the Babel conference, when he had been recovering from the transfer in sickbay, came to his mind - 'like father, like son' - and though this relationship was not father to son, Spock felt the logistics of it still held true and that Aura's stubborn nature was not just confined to herself.

Sighing inwardly, Spock weighed the options available - let Aura see and possibly wreak history, allow the boy to witness a mind-meld, or give him a nerve-pinch then implant a telepathic suggestion in his head that he had seen nothing and continue with the meld.

Finally he chose the rash, illogical course of action, aware that his friends would have been amused, twisting around in his seat and reaching out to the base of the boy's neck. His fingers brushed the nerve points common to every known humanoid, and the boy dropped to the ground without a whimper.

With no distractions, Spock turned back and touched his fingers to Aura's face, again reaching into her mind, searching for answers, and hoping to guide a lost child in the process.

Her presence was much closer now.

The treatment the avian Mobian had administered was working and her mind was now very much alert - she was simply struggling to wake. As he touched her mind there were no actual forms or bodies as last time, just the exchange between minds.

He could sense her confusion. His own feelings - which he only inwardly confessed to - were apprehensive. Acceptable, he thought, considering the circumstances.

How could he tell her that the person who had found them was her brother?

_"Spock?" _Aura's voice echoed through the endless landscape of the squared infinity that was their conjoined minds.

_"Indeed." _

_"What's happening? I feel lost..." _

_"I assure you there is no need to worry." _

_"Why are you here then?" _Aura responded, a smug note in her voice at catching him out, but also anxiety, which she tried to hide.

_"You must rest." _Spock answered._ "You are not fully healed yet. You will be in perfect health in due time, but you must rest now." _

_"I feel fine." _Aura insisted._ "I want to wake up." _She paused, noticing his hesitation._ "You're hiding something." _

_"You feel fine here because your mind is in perfect order." _Spock stated, avoiding the question._ "However, your body still needs rest. You will be fine." _

_"What are you hiding?" _Aura asked, sounding decidedly more forceful.

_"It is not something to be discussed here." _Spock responded._ "Please rest now. Your body is still injured." _

_"Please, just tell me." _Aura said, her voice taking on a pleading tone as she sensed something wasn't right.

Trying to stop her from waking, Spock put his mental conjuring abilities to use once again, creating a warm, soft environment for Aura to lie down and sleep in. The feeling was so alluring that she seemed to forget the subject entirely, and 'floated' into the warmth, letting it wrap around her like a huge, thick, soft blanket.

She cuddled into it and rested comfortably.

_"Meanie..." _Aura muttered, falling into a light slumber.

Retreating from the meld, Spock waited for the light disorientating accompanying it to fade, then leaving her lying there, made his way to the older fox, of whose identity he was now sure of and projected a feeling of wanting to sleep for a time. This way, when Aura did wake up - which would not be long - he would be able to explain the situation so that Aura would not react a way that could cause problems.

Until then, Spock returned to his meditation.

* * *

**Disclaimer: **More characters! Ovi Kintobor is (c) Sega/Fleetway comics, Takashi is also (c) Sega, though as the person he will one day become *winks* and the un-named fox is (c) Hoshiko Aurora.

**Authors note: **Apologises for the lateness of this chapter, I completely forgot to upload it on Tuesday. Rest assured the next chapter will be up tommorow as usual, though I'm hoping I won't have the same problems I did getting this one up - I don't know why keeping one section of text centered should be so much trouble.


	7. In which a secret is kept

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter seven** - In which a secret is kept.

* * *

On the _Enterprise_, Scotty sat impatiently in the captain's chair.

Dammit, this wasn't _his_ position. He was supposed to be down in Engineering, taking care of the bloody warp core!

Uhura whirled around in her chair at the science terminal. "Scotty, I'm reading a massive energy discharge coming from the planet!"

"Onscreen!" Scotty barked.

Before their eyes, a huge, multicoloured beam of energy blasted through space in the same region to which Kirk and McCoy had beamed down. It was certainly not endangering the ship, but was still extremely unsettling, to say the least. Scotty was silent for a moment, before requesting information on what they had just witnessed, but there were no answers.

* * *

"What on earth was that!?" McCoy shouted as they saw the beam of energy emitted from the ground a distance away.

"That is most likely the energy emitted by a chaos emerald." Kintobor stated. "It will only occur when they are in close proximity to another."

"Does this mean that you have more?"

"Yes." Kintobor mused thoughtfully. "However, I have kept the two we have in protective storage, and they should not react so strongly. Unless..." He looked down at Takashi, who was looking everywhere but at his father. "Takashi..."

Takashi tried an innocent grin, but swallowed at the gaze levelled at him and opened his backpack.

Kintobor sighed and took the hand-sized gem - a fiery orange - and held it up to Kirk. "This is a chaos emerald. It may not look like much, but should not be underestimated - they possess great power, far beyond what we could imagine." He gave it back to Takashi. "It should not be kept outside."

"I thought we might need it." Takashi protested. "In case we got into trouble."

"It may prove useful, but if the authorities were to pick up that energy signal and connect it to us, it could cause problems, especially since the majority of people believe the emeralds to be a myth." Kintobor warned. He turned back to Kirk. "Thankfully this area is known for high chaos energy signatures, and with the recent avalanche it will likely be attributed to that."

"So what will happen now?" Kirk asked.

"We need to find the other emerald, or the lingering energy from the tear in space could be dangerous."

Kirk nodded. "Okay. How do you propose to find this emerald?"

"With the MESU."

"The what?" McCoy spoke up.

"The Mobile Emerald Search Unit." Kintobor explained, producing a small remote control and pressing a stud on it.

Kirk and McCoy waited, since neither Takashi or Kintobor seemed to be making any move and it wasn't more than a minute later when they felt the ground shuddering below them slightly, increasing as the seconds dragged on until a shape became visible in the distance.

"That, my friends," Kintobor said proudly as the vehicle came to a stop. "Is the MESU."

Around the size of a standard shuttle back on the _Enterprise_, the MESU - or Mobile Emerald Search Unit, Kintobor explained - was the transportation that he and Takashi took when searching for the emeralds. It carried food and supplies, as well as more specialised equipment if what they had outside the transport was not enough.

Kirk and McCoy took the time to admire the machine. It looked almost like a miniature submarine, and appeared to be defying gravity.

Upon closer examination, Kirk saw that the machine was hovering via Corzanium strips. His eyebrows rose at this - Corzanium was an unbelievably rare material that could only be mined from black holes, or so the bigwigs at the Starfleet Science Corps said.

Kintobor only shook his head when asked how he had gotten a hold of such material, and offered a mysterious grin. "It wasn't easy."

A ladder on the port side lowered, and the four unlikely allies stepped aboard.

* * *

Back in the forest, Spock noticed that Aura was stirring.

It was beneficial that she awoke first, since if what he believed was true he would need to speak to her before the boy woke up, so he made his way over, watching as she blinked several times and breathed in deeply, a smile tracing across her face as the clean air went straight into her lungs, and the small breeze cooling her face.

Finally, she opened her eyes fully, sitting up and looking around, confusion briefly crossing her face.

"Where... Where are we?" Aura asked, looking around the shack.

Then her gaze fell on the boy, who was still unconscious, and her eyes opened as wide as they were able, her mouth falling open as she realised who he was. "Kharis?"

Spock was quite gratified that the boy was asleep, because what Aura did next would surely have given her away as she practically leapt atop Kharis and clamped her arms around him in a massive hug.

In Aura's mind there was no doubt that this was her brother - she didn't know how, and she didn't know why, but she didn't care, it was all secondary to having him back.

She let out breath after shuddering breath and covered the side of Kharis' face with kisses, then buried her face into his shoulder and passed her hands across his body - yet there was nothing lustful about it, as one would expect of a boyfriend and girlfriend. No, even a stranger would have understood that the touch was simply to acknowledge that he was there, that he could be touched.

She patted at his face and breathed in deeply - no one else she had ever met had his scent.

Spock raised an eyebrow, then cleared his throat. "Miss Starfire."

Aura turned her head towards him and blushed slightly, then seeing his stern expression, sobered and stood up. Her hands gripped the jumper she was wearing and she swallowed nervously.

"Would I be correct in assuming that this individual is your brother?" Spock asked.

Aura nodded, silently, then began to babble nonsensically. "I... I don't know how this could have happened. He... He DIED... I SAW it happen! But now we're here and he... he looks younger and I don't know what to think..." Aura fell silent and watched Spock. She was used by now to solving her own problems, but her mind was in turmoil and she couldn't think.

Spock was smart, he would know what to do.

"You are evidently thinking what is to be expected in this situation." Spock answered her unspoken query. "As for how this has come to occur, I believe that the possibility of time travel, as we had speculated back on the _Enterprise_, has now been proven."

"Time travel?" Aura clenched her eyes shut. She didn't know how much more she could take. Why had she opened her mouth? All she wanted was to take advantage of the moment and hold him close, as she had done so long ago.

"Miss Starfire. If we have truly travelled through time, then you must not allow him to know who you are." Spock warned.

Aura blinked away her tears, and looked at Spock in a mixture of longing, anger and confusion. "W... Why?"

"Because it would change the future here, and that cannot be allowed to happen." Spock believed his logical answer would satisfy her, but had failed to take into account that she, unlike Vulcans, had no qualms about emotions and the desires they created.

"Why not!?" Aura cried. "I LOST him! He DIED! Maybe if I tell him what happened, it won't happen!" Her mind spun, whirling with the possibilities of what it might have been like if he didn't - hadn't - died.

"You would create a time paradox if you were to tell him." Spock told her, shattering Aura's illusions. "If he were to not be killed, then you would not have left Mobius afterwards. You may not have discovered your powers, and had that not occurred, you would not have been able to come back in time to this point." He stopped, clasping both hands behind his back. "Thus," He finished. "It would create a time loop."

Aura's lower lip trembled. "But... I just..."

"You must not allow him to discover who you are." Spock's words were not tersely spoken, but they were terse nonetheless.

Aura turned her gaze down upon Kharis. "I can't save him?" She whispered hoarsely, as she stroked his cheek. "Not even when I've got the chance?"

"You must not."

"But how can I live without him?"

"You have, thus far."

"I didn't have a choice." Aura muttered bitterly. "I didn't even know what this power was when I first used it. I didn't know where I was going. I just hoped it was somewhere safe and the only reason I've survived without him this far is because I've had to." Aura hiccuped, then sobbed, tears trailing down her cheeks. "Don't you even know what it's like to lose someone you care about?"

"I do know what it is like to have a brother, as a matter of fact." Spock said calmly. "However, we are estranged from each other."

"But haven't you ever wanted to get to know him better?"

"At times." Spock admitted. "However, he has a curious inability to see reason. That is why we do not speak."

"You should!" Aura cried, voice breaking. "Then you just might know what you're missing! Like I know what I'm missing by not having mine!"

Spock said nothing.

"I just want my brother back, can't you understand that?" Aura laid her head down on Kharis' chest.

Spock finally shook his head. "No." He admitted. "I cannot."

Neither spoke in the minutes that followed.

Spock could not understand why Aura wished to tell Kharis, when every fibre of his being told him that doing so was illogical.

Aura's mind was whirling. Since she had left Mobius, she had been alone, having nobody of her own kind to. She wanted a kindred spirit, she wanted her brother, and here he was. Alive. Breathing. Warm.

She rubbed her face into his shoulder - she didn't want anything to get in the way of being with him again, even if he wasn't really the brother she knew. The important thing was that it was Kharis.

Aura looked over at Spock. "Do you know how long he'll stay asleep?"

"He will be unconscious for some time yet." Spock answered. "Still, it would be advisable to collect yourself as soon as you are able."

"I guess so..." Aura murmured, sitting down and closing her eyes.

To anyone else, it would seem as if she had fallen asleep, but Spock saw it as something akin to his own meditation, knowing that Aura was trying to collect her thoughts so that when Kharis did wake up she would not be prone to blurting out the truth she so desperately wanted to reveal.

* * *

Inside the MESU, the resemblance to a submarine ended.

It was small, but easily fit all four of them. In the front was what Kirk figured must be some sort of cockpit or navigational console, and at the back, along the walls, were two rectangular pieces of metal.

Takashi went along to one of these and pushed a button, the metal folding down with a hiss to reveal a bed, which he sat down on.

Various other pieces of equipment dotted the walls and floor of the vessel, but one other thing caught Kirk's attention and this was on the ceiling. There, a hemispherical bubble was raised above the top of the MESU, and appeared to be made of some sort of strong plastic.

Directly below it on the floor was a round circle of glass, and below that a red spring could be seen.

Kirk wondered what it was for.

"The entire planet of Mobius exudes a life force unparalleled by anything else I have found." Kintobor explained. "It's called chaos energy. The origin of the chaos emeralds are unknown, but are in tune with Mobius in such a way that the power of an entire planet becomes encompassed in nothing larger than the size of your fist."

"You mean they draw their strength from the planet?" Kirk frowned - these emeralds were sounding a lot like the energy equivalent of palm-sized warp cores, which would be an appealing prospect to a power-hungry dictator.

Kintobor nodded. "Indeed, their potential is limitless. However, Captain Kirk, this is also the reason why you cannot locate your crewman."

"I still don't understand though - how are the emeralds responsible for us not being able to find Spock?"

"Well," Kintobor mused. "As the chaos emeralds are considered a myth by most people and my own research is in it's infancy, I cannot give you a definitive answer. However, my theory is that your instruments are not properly calibrated to cut through the interference from the planet, so when you used your instruments to search for a humanoid life form, they brought you here."

"So how do we find him?"

"Well, if you are indeed from another universe, this so-called quantum signature that your bodies possess shall be all I need." Kintobor beamed cheerfully. "I can calibrate my instruments to scan for his life signs if I have this signature."

"I know I should have stayed on the ship..." McCoy muttered. "Those transporters never get it right."

"At least they took us to somebody who can help." Kirk pointed out, then turned to Kintobor - though he knew his First Officer was in all likelihood just fine, he wanted to know what was happening. "When will you be able to get us those co-ordinates?"

McCoy, on the other hand, had the same assumptions he always did, that they would find Spock with some injury that the Vulcan would deny caused him any pain at all, not to mention Aura - being in deep space wouldn't have left her untouched and there could have been any number of complications. He just hoped that they were together - they might be able to find Spock but locating one Mobian on an entire planet full of them was something that McCoy doubted was beyond even Kintobor's skills.

"Well," Kintobor answered. "If Doctor McCoy has the information in his scanning device, I can begin the process soon, but I will need to adjust my instruments first - and the scan itself will take some time."

McCoy gladly handed his medical tricorder to the balding scientist. "Just as long as you find them."

"That is not in question, Doctor, believe me." Kintobor answered, displaying a trace of a smug smile. His expression grew more serious after only a moment. "What is in question is when and where. Let us all hope that your crewman is safe, some of the natives here may not accept him as openly as Takashi has with you."

"You seem to speak from personal experience." Kirk noted.

Takashi turned from the last minute checks he was doing and looked on.

"I do." Kintobor nodded. "You see, when I came to Mobius just over twenty years ago, I was trying to create a space-time portal." Kintobor explained. "While I succeeded, my machine was quite irreparable and I was left with no way back, but while I did not miss Earth - I had no family and few friends – adapting to life here was not easy. One of the obstacles I faced was my appearance and not speaking the native tongue, which could be a problem for your friend."

"There won't be a language barrier." Kirk said. "We have translators, and Spock is carrying one."

"That is gratifying to hear." Kintobor nodded. "His only worry then will be what any natives think of his appearance. I was fortunate enough to be helped by several people who believed my story and could not have adjusted to life here without them. They all became my friends, and helped me when I found and later adopted Takashi." Kintobor smiled. "Despite my problems, I feel as if I am truly home."

Kirk nodded, but McCoy caught the last words. "You mean he was abandoned!?"

He realised his mistake as Takashi's gaze drifted downwards.

Kintobor shot him an angry glance. "That was uncalled for, sir. You should not pry into other people's affairs."

McCoy wisely said nothing and it was Kirk that spoke next. "I'm sorry for my friend's behaviour." He said, looking at McCoy then Takashi, who had turned away. "It's just that you mentioned 'finding' Takashi before adopting him."

Kintobor nodded silently. "Yes. I tell the truth. Seven years ago, I was here in Faridor Contus - the Frozen North - and came across a small child in the snow. I never found out where he came from or where his parents were, but I've taken care of him as if he were my own."

"As far as I think, he's my father." Takashi said. "Blood doesn't matter."

Kintobor smiled at Takashi, affectionately ruffling his head spines. "Exactly, and as far as I am concerned, Takashi is my son. Now, if we're finished we should get going before any further time is lost."

* * *

Back in the forest, Aura had finished her ad-hoc meditation. She was feeling slightly calmer, but still nervous and watched Spock from the corner of her eye, where he had also been sat in light meditation.

Both looked towards Kharis as he shifted.

Spock stood up and walked over to him, Aura following slightly behind.

Kharis' eyes opened slowly and he breathed deeply through his nose, letting it out his mouth a second later, then noticed the two people watching him. "Um..." He shifted, feeling strangely cramped. "What's been going on?"

Aura and Spock looked at each other - Aura didn't want to say anything for fear of blurting something out and Spock by custom did not lie.

"You fainted." Spock said, making Aura glad he had spoken first.

Kharis blinked, rubbing his head. "I don't remember feeling dizzy."

"It might have been the heat." Spock suggested.

Kharis nodded vaguely. "Yeah, could have been." He turned his glance over to Aura, who was looking at him with concern. "Hey. Glad to see you're okay."

Aura bit down on her lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood, nodding in acknowledgement of his remark. Every moment was another moment she had to resist the nearly uncontrollable urge to leap into his arms, knowing he would hug her back if she did because it was the kind of person he was, the kind of person he had always been.

It didn't help that she felt almost taken in just by the sound of his voice. Though he was younger than she had ever known him to be, his voice sounded just the same and she felt enthralled by it and just being able to hear it again made it so hard to stay silent or hug him again.

Aura shoved the thought down into the deepest part of her mind. _'Stop that! You're only hurting yourself the more you think about it!'_

Instead, she tried to smile. "Hi."

"Are you feeling better now?" Kharis asked. "You looked pretty ill back then."

"I'm feeling a lot better." Aura replied, feeling the conversation become easier as they exchanged words.

"You look hungry." Kharis walked out of the shack and across to a large tree. Reaching to a low branch, he plucked several pieces of fruit and handed them out. "Here."

Aura looked at the fruit - how long had it been since she had had food from her own home? Bringing it to her mouth she sniffed it then took a bite, savouring the sweet yet bitter taste on her tongue.

"So." Kharis took a bite from his own fruit, nodding towards Spock. "How do you know him? Last thing I knew was that Kintobor was the only human on Mobius."

Aura paused.

Spock broke the tension. "Surely I have done nothing to warrant an insult."

Aura laughed and Kharis frowned. "What?"

"Spock isn't human." Aura explained. "He's an alien called a Vulcan. I know they look like humans, but look at his ears. They're pointed. Human ears are round on the top."

Kharis squinted at Spock's ears, while at the same time trying to avoid the appearance that he was staring. He did not do well on that count and finally leaned back and shrugged. "Well, I've only met one human, I thought they all looked the same. He's got hair on the top of his head though, so maybe all humans are bald."

Aura laughed again. "How many humans do you know then?"

"Well, only Kintobor." Kharis grinned, admitting his mistake before turning to Spock. "I know I said you were an Obek, but I know you're not. You look too much like Kintobor and he told me about humans and where he came from."

This wasn't so hard, Aura thought, listening as Kharis explained how he had met Ovi Kintobor, a story she had already heard from him before, though it would be in his future and her past.  
Smiling was becoming easier and as long as she didn't let on that they were related, she actually felt free to carry on a normal conversation with him.

"So what are you doing out here?"

"Hmm?" Kharis turned to face her, swallowing a piece of the fruit in his hands before continuing. "I'm travelling. Always wanted to do it, but only got the chance to a while back - had to finish school and build up some money, but it's all been worth it."

"Isn't it hard?

Kharis shook his head. "Not really. I get to see some amazing sights, sleep under the stars and do whatever I want. I live off the land or I do small jobs to earn money. It can be hard work, but it's worth it."

"It sounds fun." Aura smiled. "Kind of like what I do."

Kharis tilted his head and returned her smile, finding it infectious. "So what about you? What are you doing out here?"

"I'm travelling too." Aura explained, her response easy since it was honest. "I just don't always end up where I think I'm going."

"All the same, I'm glad you ended up here."

Aura smiled broadly. "Thanks."

Kharis grinned. "You were hoping you could avoid my other question, weren't you? So, tell me, what are you doing with..." He chucked his thumb at Spock. "With whatever-he-is over there?"

"I met Spock on his home." Aura replied.

"Does he come from Earth then?"

"Not exactly." Aura explained. "Spock comes from a different planet, but Earth is in the same dimension." _'Well, one version of Earth'_ Aura thought, recalling how many different dimensions and planets she had been to, how many had been Earth, but no two exactly the same.

"Did you come through with Kintobor then?" Kharis asked.

Spock stood by silently - he recalled the memories he had seen in the meld, how Kharis would later tell Aura about Kintobor and the portal he had constructed, which would in turn make it easier for Aura to believe the scale of her own teleportation when she had left Mobius. He shook his head. "No, we are here by accident."

"So how did you get here?" Kharis frowned, kneeling down and digging a small hole with his hands where he placed the seeds from the fruit he had eaten and covered it again. "Was Aura with you or did you meet her here? If she was there, how did you get here? Did Kintobor repair his portal?"

"No. As far as we are aware, he has not constructed another portal." That Kharis knew of Kintobor's origins made things easier, so it would do no harm to tell him of the truth. "Aura brought us here."

"How?"

Aura was proud of her powers, and after looking over at Spock, made sure to suck it in as she responded. "I can teleport just about anywhere I want to, no machines at all."

Kharis' eyes grew wide. "Wow! Really?"

Aura nodded. "I'm from Mobius. I just wanted to see what other places were like too."

"Suffice to say that while she has been in our care for a only brief time," Spock said. "We have found her to be quite fascinating."

"Mr Spock here is an interesting person." Aura grinned. "Although he does tend to use long complicated words when just a small one would do."

"Well." Kharis smiled warmly. "I think I can cope with long words, I had to when I was at school." He shuddered in a exaggerated and humorous gesture. "I preferred Mobian to most subjects and my teachers told me I had a flair for writing, but I always wanted to travel. There are so many places of beauty and fascination in Elhannon and I want to travel everywhere, maybe write books on my travels." Kharis shrugged. "Mom and dad are always worried, but then again, parents always are. You know what I mean."

Aura nodded silently as tears began to well up in her eyes again, but she fought them down. Spock simply stared at the boy silently.

"I keep a journal, though." Kharis continued, and he shoved his hand deep into one pocket, pulling out a small notebook. "Sometimes it helps me think when I'm bored, sometimes I come up with fun stuff, and sometimes it's all just stupid." He put the notebook back in his pocket.

"I'm sure it isn't." Aura strongly countered. "You sound like a very interesting person to keep a journal. I do as well." She remembered when he had taken her travelling, when she had been younger and he was older than he was now. Kharis had taken a job writing articles for papers and magazines and had started a book on his own travels, proving to have a way with words, just as his teachers had said. It had been enough to provide for themselves, as well as her education when they had settled in Azure City and while the uniform had left something to be desired, she had enjoyed school and had always been met at the end of the day by Kharis to do something fun - sometimes a trip to the local ice-cream shop, some shopping, or to the park.

Aura bit her lip again.

It had now been around three years since she had been at school and though several of the dimensions she had visited had tried educating her she felt that her travels had provided her with more of an education than she may have ever got back home.

Kharis' stomach began to rumble loudly, and he gave them a sheepish smile. "Sorry, those peappli are good, but I need something a bit more substantial. How about we go out somewhere? I could introduce you to some really good food, Mr Spock."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"Ever heard of gelati?" Kharis asked.

"It's like ice-cream." Aura explained. "You've tried that, right?"

"Indeed." Spock nodded. "I was introduced to it in my youth by my mother. She seemed quite fond of a flavour called Rocky Road and although there was nothing in it that was similar to either rocks or a road, it was quite palatable." Spock remembered quite clearly the incident, which had happened when he had been quite young, before his Kahs-Wan, the test which had decided his future as a Vulcan. He also remembered being embarrassed at his lack of control from the overwhelming taste and even more so when his mother had told the captain the same story during his parents' stay during the Babel conference.

This had led to Kirk and McCoy - with whom the story had been shared - dragging him along on the next shore leave to a store that had specialised solely in ice-cream, prompting the memory of their mistake in giving him one made of a fruit that had provoked an unsightly and irritating rash on his skin.

Chuckling, Kharis gestured towards a pathway which would take them to a small village.

* * *

Meanwhile, the MESU was moving along the frozen landscape towards the energy signature of the chaos emerald.

Kintobor had assured Kirk and McCoy that once they recovered the emerald and used it to stop the others from radiating more energy, he and Takashi would be able to help them search for their comrade.

Until then, however, all they could do was wait.

McCoy could hear Kintobor talking to Kirk but was busy looking over Takashi, who he had noticed limping a few moments after they had departed and had brought out his equipment.

"There you go kid."

"Thanks." Takashi stood up and flexed his leg.

"Isn't this a bit slow for you?" McCoy asked, motioning towards the window.

Takashi shook his head. "Nah. I mean, yeah, I can run faster than the MESU, but we need dad's equipment to find the emerald, least till we get close, then I can almost _feel_ it. Besides, I don't use my ability most of the time because we've got to keep it secret."

McCoy shook his head, still wondering why the kid wasn't burning a hole in the floor of the MESU. With those feet, it wouldn't be impossible. "Don't you mind? Keeping it secret, I mean, you'd be pretty popular at school."

Takashi shrugged. "I trust my dad. You trust your dad, right?"

McCoy thought about his father, how their views and opinions had often clashed but that he had always been able to count on him when it counted and nodded. "Yeah, I did."

"He's gone, isn't he?"

"Yeah." McCoy nodded. "More than twenty years now."

"My grandpa died a few months ago." Takashi murmured in a low voice and glanced at his father from the corner of his eye, making McCoy suspect it was still a painful subject for both. "There was an accident."

An uncomfortable silence followed and McCoy searched for something to say. "Hey, kid, sorry for what I said earlier, I had no idea it would be that upsetting."

"S'okay." Takashi grinned, his legs swinging back and forth. "You kinda caught me off guard. Been a while since I thought about that." Takashi looked around, then suddenly leapt off the chair and made his way over to a small cupboard, pulling out a box and bringing it over.

As he opened it, McCoy identified it as a game that looked very similar to Snakes and Ladders and chuckled - how could he forget that game, he'd played it countless times as a kid.

Takashi looked up at him. "Want me to beat you or not?"

His infectious grin spread to McCoy as they unpacked the game. McCoy immediately snuck the blue counter before the other could and Takashi pouted for a moment before settling for the yellow counter. "Naw, kid. I was the king of this game as a kid. If anyone's going to win, it'll be me."

"Yeah, right."

On the other side of the room, Kirk could hear this conversation and couldn't help but raise an Spock-esque eyebrow in their direction - McCoy seemed to have spontaneously turned into a child and Kirk made sure to appreciate seeing it while it lasted because it could probably be the only time he saw it for a very long time, if ever again. He also made a note to mention this to Spock when they found him, if only to try and provoke some sort of emotional reaction.

"How are we doing?" Kirk turned back to Kintobor.

"Getting closer, Captain, that's all I can tell you for now. You'll be the first to know when something does happen." Kintobor turned around in his seat. "When, not if. Something most defiantly will happen."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Kirk nodded.

"If I may ask, how did you come to be here? You and your friend are obviously human, but I am at a loss to your method of arrival. Your uniforms seem to signify some sort of company, perhaps a military or such?" Kintobor lingered in thought. "Your friend seems to be a medical man, from the way I saw him treat Takashi's small injury."

Kirk nodded. "Yes, we're from a military of sorts. I'm Captain Kirk, and that's Doctor McCoy, we're both from the USS _Enterprise_."

"Ah, a very strong name." Kintobor smiled. "Frontiersmen, I suppose?"

"Of sorts." Kirk explained. "The _Enterprise_ is part of Starfleet, an organisation devoted to providing a deep-space exploratory and military service for the United Federation of Planets - to boldly go where no man has gone before."

"Well then, Captain Kirk, you've come to the right place. This is certainly the frontier, as far as humanity is concerned." Kintobor glanced up at Kirk once more. "Though I didn't think I'd been away from Earth that long, even if this isn't my own universe."

"You haven't." Kirk responded.

"I beg your pardon?" Kintobor blinked.

"Jim!" McCoy exploded. "Prime Directive!"

Kirk shrugged. "We broke it long ago." He turned back to Kintobor. "We're not from Earth, not as you know it. We're also from what you might consider another universe, an alternate reality. We're trying to find our way home."

McCoy sighed heavily, turning his attention away from the game.

"That does sound interesting." Kintobor nodded. "If you had told me this just over twenty years ago I would have called you mad, but here and now I can fully believe you." Kintobor laughed. "After all, my own machine brought me to this universe, so I would think that not to believe you would be rather self-deprecating on my part."

* * *

Aura frowned, watching Spock as they walked back through the forest. The small village hadn't given him a second glance, but he had no taste whatever in ice cream, because all he had gotten was plain old beina and was now letting it sog up the cone.

She and Kharis had taken what was their shared favourite, Mobian triple-berry with ground canter nuts - nothing was better.

It had been a long time since Aura had tasted Mobian ice-cream and she tore into her double-scoop with enthusiasm, but as soon as she felt the familiar taste, it reminded her that the last time she had Mobian triple-berry had been the day she had left.

The gelati went sour in her mouth.

_It had been the last day of the spring term._

_The next day she and Kharis had been set to go travelling for the holiday and Aura had been looking forward to it for months._

_As a treat, he had taken her out for gelati, then picked them up a movie which Aura had grasped in her hands as she sat on his shoulders as they walked home, plucking cherry blossoms from the trees overhead which cascaded down in a shower of pink and purple petals._

_She had fallen asleep watching the movie and woken up to hear Kharis shouting something at her as he had run out of the room._

_In her sleep-muddled head, Aura had thought they were leaving and scrambled to find her things, but opening the door just as she had been fastening the straps on her rucksack, Aura had gasped at the sight of Kharis at the end of the path fighting a robot that had looked like Sonic._

_Kharis had shouted and told her to go back inside, but when Aura had turned back one of the robots had been blocking it, so she had run into the street._

_Then she had tripped and fallen._

_Looking up she had seen yet another robot with a weapon mounted on one arm._

_It had been pointed straight at her._

_Aura hadn't been able to move._

_Then the robot had fired and Kharis had been there, standing between them and only when he had cried out in pain and collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut had Aura had found her voice and screamed._

Aura managed to swallow the mouthful of gelati, but her hand shook as she fought not to break into tears.

Kharis noticed she had stopped and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. "Aura, are you okay?"

Aura closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she tried to control her feelings, but his touch was one of concern and it felt so much like the brother she had always known that she couldn't stop a tear escape and trail down her face. "I..."

Feeling sick to her stomach, Aura fell to her knees, releasing a stream of partially digested gelati which had now been turned to just cream. The rest of her cone broke apart as her hand clenched it tightly, pieces scattering on the forest floor as she struggled to her feet, swaying at first, then steadied by Spock, who could tell that Kharis' presence wasn't helping.

Kharis looked on, worried as Aura fell into Spock's arms, suppressing the nausea rising in her throat as the memories kept coming.

_Kharis hadn't been able to stand up and had struggled to even sit, but with her help he had managed to lean against a wall. His face had been calm, but somehow this had been more worrying than when he had been screaming in pain._Aura started to sob as her composure shattered.

_He was dying and Aura knew this, but she had continued to deny it even as Kharis had put all his strength into hugging her, telling Aura how much he loved her, that he would watch over her and tell their parents how proud they should be. Then he had fumbled around his neck and removed the pendent he had always worn and with shaking hands had fastened it around her neck._

_Aura had fingered the pendent and swallowed, staring at the colours of blue and purple that swirled together._

_Then Kharis had told her to run._

_Distraught, Aura had thrown her arms around him, but it was only when his eyes had closed and he had fallen silent that with tears streaming down her face she had scrambled to her feet and ran as the sounds of battle had come closer._

She just couldn't take it - Kharis was right there, right there! Spock said they couldn't risk damaging the timeline, but he was so close and she couldn't lose him again!

Pushing herself away from Spock, Aura threw her arms around Kharis and buried her face in his neck.

"It's okay" Kharis murmured.

Aura was tired and still feverish, but while she tried to convince herself that this was what was causing her to break down, she knew deep down that it wasn't - for so long she had tried to forget that day and pretend she was fine, but for all that time she had buried the memories and chosen not to dwell on them. At the time it had felt like the right thing to do, but it had led to this. She wanted Kharis - **her Kharis -** who had always known how to make everything better, but all she could do was beg to be held by him before he knew her.

As her breathing became less shallow, Kharis felt her choked cries grow less frequent until they stopped. Then when her legs began to give way, his grip on her strengthened and he gently picked her up and cradled her in his arms.

"Let's go back to the shack," Kharis suggested. "She still needs rest."

Spock nodded "Agreed."

They walked in silence back to the small structure in the woods and when they got there, Kharis gently placed Aura back down on the bed and pulled a thin cover over her.

Feeling her forehead he frowned - it was slightly hot to the touch.

At the sound of footsteps he turned and found Spock standing there holding a cloth soaked with water, evidently having come to the same conclusion.

As Kharis folded the cloth and placed it on Aura's forehead, Spock walked over to the small rucksack Aura had with her - he had paid little attention to it before, but thought that since Aura had been travelling for several years, it was logical that she would have prepared for emergencies. There was little initially other than several articles of clothing, all of which had quite obviously been used and not washed in some time and a collection of other items, but then his hand came across something hard.

Wondering if it might be a first aid kit, Spock pulled it out, but what he came across instead was a picture frame containing a photo of four figures. Two he identified as Aura and Kharis and the other two seemed to be their parents, the male resembling them more with grey fur and black tipped ears, but the female with the same purple hair.

Spock was careful not to let Kharis see this photo. If he did it would certainly damage the timeline and that was something he had to prevent. He handled it gingerly as he put it back into the backpack.

"What are you looking for?" Kharis asked as he watched Aura sleeping fitfully.

"A medical kit." Spock answered.

"Oh." Kharis paused and looked around "Keep an eye on her for a sec."

Spock nodded and turned his glance back to Aura as Kharis walked over and took a leaf from a nearby tree, doused it with water from a bottle then placed it gently on her forehead.

Spock raised an eyebrow. "And how precisely will that help, if I may ask?"

"When water is spread on this kind of leaf it activates certain chemicals inside it that have healing properties. Those chemicals can be absorbed through the skin and it can really help a fever to break." Kharis explained.

"I shall endeavour to study plant life more extensively when I am able," Spock commented, gratified that Kharis was aware of the properties of the plants around them.

Kharis bent over Aura and studied her closely under the pre tense of checking her temperature.

There was something strange about her - she seemed to possess a lot of the same physical qualities that his parents had and though he knew his father had been adopted it was still strange to see somebody else who looked so much like him.

It was over an hour before Aura woke up.

By then Kharis had taken the leaf off, satisfied that her fever seemed to have come down almost to the point of not being present just as she blinked drowsily, looking up at him.

"Hey" Kharis smiled "You feeling okay?"

Aura nodded and sat up, stretching her arms as she remembered with sudden clarity what had happened.

Triple-berry gelati.

Memories.

Hugging Kharis.

'_Oh, no... hugging Kharis!' _Aura looked up at Kharis, who was still smiling down at her and held back her feelings as she forced herself to smile. "I think so. I'm sorry I jumped on you like that."

Kharis' smile widened. "That's okay. It's always a good thing to be hugged and something told me you hadn't had all that many in a while, so I wanted to make sure you got what was coming to you."

Aura's smile came more easily this time, glad that he hadn't pressed her for an answer. "Thanks."

"No problem." Kharis smiled, ruffling her hair.

"It would be advisable to wait for a while longer before we make any move" Spock spoke up. "To make sure that you are fully recovered."

Aura nodded. "Okay."

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Now his identity has been confirmed, I can also confirm that Kharis Starfire is (c) Hoshiko Aurora (as well as my old penname of Aura Starfire) - so hands off! ^^

**Authors note: **I didn't notice that I'd uploaded the last chapter again by mistake, but that has been fixed now, so enjoy the chapter.


	8. In which everyone is reunited

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter eight** - In which all the major characters are reunited.

* * *

Back in the MESU, McCoy was tapping his foot impatiently on the metal deck plating. "How much longer is this going to take?"

"There should be a warp point within a kilometer of here." Kintobor informed him.

"A warp point?"

"Oh," Kintobor chuckled. "I apologise. I didn't explain that the chaos emeralds are not actually present on Mobius. What we are searching for is the energy signature projected by the entrance to a pocket dimension where the emeralds reside. I should also explain that when I said that the wave of energy we witnessed was caused by two chaos emeralds reacting to each other, that it was actually the close proximity of the chaos emerald that Takashi possessed to the entrance of the warp zone."

"Hhn." McCoy grunted. "This should be rich then. How's he gonna enter it?"

"The fabric of space-time is very unstable around the warp point, but entering it is only possible by those with chaos aptitude." Kintobor continued at their bemused expressions. "On Mobius, some individuals have abilities caused by chaos energy. Those with abilities shared amongst a species are given the term 'chaos potential', whilst those with abilties that they alone possess are said to have chaos aptitude. These can range from flight or enhanced strength to teleportation and levitation. In Takashi's case, he is able to run much faster than is common for his species, as well as having an increased sense of agility."

"Wait a sec, if this 'chaos potential is something present in all members of a particular sub-species, surely it's just a natural genetic trait." McCoy pointed out. "Calling it an 'ability' doesn't sound right."

"You would think so." Kintobor agreed. "But all chaos abilities are characterised by the individual possessing a certain genetic marker - and there have been members of those sub-species who have lacked this marker and have not developed their ability."

"And Takashi's will allow him to enter the warp zone?"

"Yes." Kintobor nodded. "From our acquisition of the first emerald we have proven that when Takashi moves at a sufficient speed, he is able to tear through the barrier, almost like a wormhole."

This set McCoy groaning again. "Why must we deal with all this strange stuff, Jim. Why couldn't I just go back to the damned ship?"

"What would you do there, Bones?" Kirk pointed out with a smile. "Besides, if Takashi happens to be injured, we'll need you along."

"Indeed." Kintobor agreed. "If something were to happen your experience would be immeasurably useful and valued."

"Dad, I'm not gonna get injured!" Takashi protested. "It'll be just like last time. I'll get in, get the emerald and get out. Easy."

Kintobor gave him a sharp look. "Takashi, I would advise you not to be overconfident. Every emerald and warp zone holds danger and it would be incredibly foolish to run in without paying heed."

Takashi sighed, rolling his eyes upwards. "I promise, dad, I'll be careful."

Kintobor nodded, satisfied. "Good. Go and get prepared, we'll be there soon."

Takashi nodded and went to sit on the bed, unlacing his sneakers then retying them to make sure they were doubly tight. McCoy sat beside him and Kirk watched them engage in an animated but inaudible conversation.

"Aside from the potential that the chaos emeralds hold, this will allow Takashi to practice his abilities." Kintobor commented as he studied the computer screen. "When his grandfather and I discovered his ability, Charles said it would be best to keep it secret as Takashi's young age would undoubtedly cause suspicion to fall on us."

"I thought you had said Takashi had no biological family." Kirk asked.

"He doesn't, as far as we know." Kintobor flicked several switches as he spoke. "Charles was one of the people that helped me adjust to life here and provide a reasonable explanation for my appearance and inability to speak the native language. We had much in common and when I left hospital he offered me a place to stay, then adopted me into his family tree." Kintobor's expression grew pained. "He died several months ago."

Thinking of his father, Kirk could understand Kintobor's pain. "I'm sorry."

"That is why I'm searching for the chaos emeralds." Kintobor continued. "Charles was just fifty-six when he died after an experiment he was conducting on negative chaos energy went wrong. I hope to use the emeralds to ensure that nothing like that will ever happen again."

"What will you do when Takashi gets older?" Kirk asked, changing the subject. "Surely he can't keep his ability secret forever?"

"I'm still not sure." Kintobor looked troubled, furrows appearing in his brows. "Most of those with chaos aptitude develop their abilities with the onset of adolescence, but if I can come up with a reason that will throw no suspicions on my work that won't be a problem. Otherwise, our original plan is to wait until Takashi is fourteen and goes through a ceremony much like the _bar mitzvah_ in the Jewish faith. Though it doesn't confer full adulthood status it would allow Takashi to discover his ability with no repercussions."

A high-pitched whining came from one of the nearby devices.

"Well, this is it." Kintobor turned to Takashi. "Are you ready?"

Takashi nodded, giving his father a thumbs up.

Kintobor pressed down a switch, the clear screen on the floor retracting and the object beneath it moving upwards until it could be seen to be an object similar in shape to a giant mushroom.

Takashi went to stand by it, tapping his foot impatiently as he pulled on a pair of white gloves to protect his hands.

"Wait for my signal." Kintobor instructed. "I must align us perfectly under the warp point, or you'll be eating dirt."

"Yeah, right." Takashi grinned - his reflexes were better than that and they both knew it.

Kintobor shook his head in amusement, then held his arm up to the side, showing Takashi that he was ready to give the signal, then threw it downwards, making a cutting motion.

Takashi leapt on top of the spring which propelled him upwards and rocketed him towards his destination.

Kirk and McCoy scrambled out of their seats and stared through the opening in the roof of the MESU just in time to see Takashi soaring high above them and disappear in a bright flash of light.

"Amazing!" Kirk gasped.

McCoy just stood with his mouth open.

Kintobor, who had seen this before returned to his seat to slow the MESU down until the vehicle was stationary, knowing that all they could do now was wait for Takashi to return.

* * *

Takashi felt himself accelerate through the air and up into the atmosphere where the signal for the warp zone had been located.

Had it been on the ground, entering would have been simple - just a case of building up as much speed as possible as he ran towards it so that the high velocity would tear through the friction of space and time - but a different approach was needed here. The spring had been based on current technology and inspired by several species of plant life on Mobius, designed by his father to make full use of Takashi's unique abilities by amplifying his speed and propelling him more than twenty times higher depending on how fast he had been going when his feet had made contact.

As he gained altitude, Takashi could feel the strange energy of the emerald within the warp zone calling to him in a way he couldn't describe before he disappeared in a flash of green light and appeared seconds later over a hill of green grass at a steep angle.

If there was one thing Takashi hated, it was the force of gravity pulling on him, but in this case he used it to his advantage, boosting his speed the moment his feet made contact with the ground and soon he was manoeuvring down the hill at a blinding pace, moving faster than the naked eye could see.

Going this fast, he barely had time to register the obstacles that came out of nowhere – the wall that rose from the ground, which he ran up and over, launching himself into the air over a sea of spikes which he almost didn't clear, but had no time to worry about these as he approached a large river too wide to leap straight over.

Several logs and rocks rose from the water for several seconds, then submerged again.

Takashi felt his stomach churn as he searched for another way across, but saw the ground behind him collapsing forcing him to swallow his fear and jump across. On the last rock his foot slipped and he tumbled across and onto the bank, breathing heavily as he felt the water soak through his shoes and socks.

Scrambling up he found himself on a straight path.

On an even level at first, it then went into a deep slope, further increasing his speed as the incline seemed to go straight over a cliff and into oblivion. All Takashi could see beyond the edge was darkness, like the colour of space itself, but tried not to concern himself with that as his keen eyes picked out the emerald glowing just beyond, floating in the air.

Takashi didn't question this image, he had seen far stranger and just pressed forward, ever more determined as he propelled himself off the edge, hoping he would be able to grasp the emerald and uttering a silent cheer as his fingers just barely curled around it before he fell into the darkness.

The next thing he knew, there was another flash of light and he fell onto the ground to be met with a faceful of cold, wet snow.

"Blegh!" Takashi exclaimed, wiping the snow from his body, then gazing at the emerald in his hand. It was a shining deep purple, the sunlight reflecting into his eyes and nodding in satisfaction he opened his backpack and placed it inside.

Now they only had three more to find.

Takashi looked around. He had exited the warp zone, but couldn't see the MESU anywhere and while waiting was not one of his favorite activities, it wasn't long before he saw it in the distance and grinning, broke into a light jog towards it.

The vehicle slowed down as he approached.

As it stopped, the door opened and Kintobor stepped out. Seeing Takashi he smiled, then motioned for him to come inside and Takashi did so, suppressing a slight shiver at the cold wind.

"Were you successful?"

Takashi flashed him a grin and a thumbs up, then reached into the backpack pulling out the emerald which was still glowing as he handed it to Kintobor.

"Amazing..." Kintobor breathed, turning the emerald around in his hands, inspecting it from every angle, delight shining in his eyes as he walked over to a small unit on the wall and pressed a button, then placed it next to the other emeralds. "This containment unit keeps the emeralds from emitting harmful radiation when in close proximity." Kintobor explained.

A beeping from the console caught their attention.

"Well then gentlemen" Kintobor crossed the MESU back to his seat, where he sat back down and pressed a couple of buttons on the console in front of him "It seems that the time taken in locating and securing the emerald was enough for the scan to be completed."

"You mean we can find Spock now?" Kirk asked.

"Indeed" Kintobor nodded, fingers flying across the keys as he got the location of their friend "Using the quantum signature of your friend it was easy to locate him with enough time given to do so."

McCoy grumbled "Well then, let's go and find him."

Kintobor chuckled apologetically. "My friend, you do not know the terrain of the planet and it would be a long journey, they are over a thousand miles from here."

McCoy groaned. "Spock never does anything to make it easy does he?"

Kirk went to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder "Come on Bones, you know it's not his fault."

"Yeah, I guess so" McCoy admitted reluctantly. "It's that girl, she whisked him off the ship without even saying anything."

"It wasn't anybody's fault, Bones, just something that happened." Kirk shrugged, knowing that McCoy always needed somebody to blame and that it usually ended up being Spock. "So how are we going to get there then?" Kirk asked, turning to face Kintobor.

"We could use the MESU to travel there, but it would take a considerably long time." Kintobor mused. "Alternatively we can use the emeralds"

"How can we use them to get there?"

Kintobor smiled again and motioned for Takashi to open the containment unit, showing the three emeralds, orange, green and purple, each shining with their unnatural energy.

"I have discovered, though quite by accident," Kintobor said with an amused chuckle, "That Takashi is able to use an emerald for limited teleportation purposes. We have used this only a few times, but it should be quite easy for him to transport not only himself but the MESU and ourselves as well."

"Like our transporters." Kirk nodded. "Okay, let's go for it."

Kintobor printed out a sheet of paper which he passed to Takashi. "Although Takashi has not been to this location before it seems that the emeralds are connected to the planet in such a way that as long as he keeps the co-ordinates in his mind and thinks only of them, the emeralds should take us to that exact spot."

Takashi gave back the sheet of paper to Kintobor, then took the green and orange emeralds in one hand and the purple in the other - though one emerald would be enough to teleport, he felt slightly safer with all three.

"Now, we must be quiet" Kintobor urged Kirk and McCoy "Takashi will need to concentrate."

Takashi shut his eyes tightly and the emeralds took on an even brighter glow than before as he mentally chanted the co-ordinates over and over, urging the emeralds to do their work.

As he did so, the glow spread outwards, covering the inside of the MESU and everyone inside it and had anybody been outside, a few moments later they would have seen the vehicle disappear completely with a small flash of light.

* * *

"How are you feeling now?"

"Fine, thank you." Aura replied. She did feel much better, the nausea had now faded completely and while those memories were still at the front of her thoughts she was able to ignore them, trying to keep in mind that it would be disastrous to the timeline if she said anything at all to Kharis.

For the last ten minutes they had been sitting in the shack as they sheltered from a light shower outside but it was over now and the hot sun was quickly causing any puddles at all to evaporate into the air, so they had gone back outside to enjoy the good weather.

"So what exactly can you do?" Kharis asked.

"Well..." Aura didn't think this would do any harm, since her powers had developed after she had left Mobius. "I can go across distances and dimensions. It takes a lot out of me but I've been to some really interesting places."

"Including where your friend there comes from?"

Aura nodded "Well, where he works anyway." She explained with a lopsided grin and they both chuckled as Spock looked in their direction.

"So where are your parents?" Kharis asked. "Are they worried about you?"

Aura didn't know how to reply to that. She had only been five years old when they had died and though Kharis – her Kharis – had told about them, she didn't miss them in the same way she missed him, so she looked down and hoped he wouldn't press her for an answer. "I don't have any."

"Oh." Kharis paused. "I'm sorry."

The silence that followed was broken a few moments later by a strange whooshing noise, like a strong wind rushing through leaves on a tree, but different in a way that none of them could describe. Only slightly audible at first, it increased in both volume and intensity then stopped completely as a flash of light illuminated the clearing.

When they could see again - though with spots dancing in front of their eyes - each could see a strange object slightly larger than the shack had appeared in the clearing.

After getting over their initial shock, Aura and Kharis rubbed their eyes and looked over at Spock.

"Are those your friends?" Kharis asked, receiving a raised eyebrow as his response.

"I do not know for certain, as the vehicle is of a design I do not recognise" Spock replied as he examined the craft. "However, the fact that it has appeared at this moment would support the assumption that it is in some way connected to one of us."

"Well, it's not me." Kharis shook his head "I can't think of any reason why I'd be connected to it."

"Indeed." Spock intoned as they waited for whoever was inside to come out.

The door opened with a hiss and Kirk stepped out, his face breaking into a wide smile as he spotted his Vulcan First Officer. Behind him came McCoy, who grumbled as he reached for his tricorder and waved it over Spock, muttering several choice words under his breath as he did so.

"Glad to see you're okay Spock." Kirk nodded, then turned to Aura. "You too miss..."

"Captain." Spock interrupted quickly. "May I speak to you for a moment?"

Kirk was confused, but agreed and as soon as Spock was free of McCoy and the tricorder he took the captain aside and explained the situation to him in low, even tones that could not be picked up by those around them.

McCoy, satisfied that there was nothing wrong with Spock, turned his attention to Aura. "How are you feeling kid?"

"Okay." Aura nodded as McCoy waved the scanner over her.

"She was ill earlier." Kharis pointed out.

"Well, there's only a slight elevation in your temperature." McCoy turned off the tricorder and placed it back in the bag hanging over his shoulder. "Aside from that everything checks out."

"My word, is that Jonathon's grandson?"

Kharis turned around as Takashi and Kintobor stepped out of the MESU and grinned to Aura. "Guess I was wrong about not having any connection."

"You know them?" Aura asked.

Kharis nodded as Kintobor walked over and they shook hands. "It is, sir and it's good to see you again."

"Indeed." Kintobor's head bobbed up and down. "It must be what, seven years ago by now. How is your grandfather?"

"He died last year." Kharis replied, his tone soft before pausing. "I was sorry to hear about your father, sir. Before my grandfather died, he said I should come back and visit, but mom and dad wanted me to finish school first."

"Thank you." Kintobor nodded. "Charles would have been pleased to see you again. So, you're travelling on your own now?"

"Dad, who is this?" Takashi asked. "You know him?"

"This is Kharis Starfire." Kintobor explained, causing McCoy's head to snap up from re-examining the readings from his tricorder. "He and his grandfather visited us when you were just a few years old. Your grandfather stayed with Jonathon and his daughter when he was studying on South Island."

As everyone around her continued talking and catching up, nobody noticed Aura's sudden intake of breath or how her eyes widened before she stepped back with silent tears trailing down her face and frantically grasped at the power within her.

Kharis was startled as a bright light illuminated the clearing and Aura suddenly disappeared from right beside him, while Takashi and Kintobor blinked in surprise and Spock turned, raising an eyebrow.

"Not again!" McCoy muttered.

* * *

Aura reappeared at the edge of a waterfall, not too large or too small, with water cascading over mismatched rocks piled high into a water into a small lake at the bottom.

Walking to the edge, Aura bent down and cupped her hands, then lowered them into the water and lifted them back up to her mouth. Then, she sat down, and with knees brought up and her arms wrapped around them, she bent her head down and cried.

She had tried for so long to forget Mobius, the painful memories of her brother's death overshadowing any she might have looked back on once and smiled about - even coming here with him - but it seemed that she couldn't escape them, and if she had ever had any doubts about whether she should come back, they were gone. It was a year before she was born, her brother didn't even know she existed and after accepting - reluctantly - that she couldn't stop his death, she had just been standing in front of the man who would one day be responsible.

Aura let out a strangled sob, her fingertips sparking with electricity.

"It's not fair..."

After the death of their parents, when Kharis had taken her away from South Island, he had tried to keep Aura from knowing anything about the chaos and destruction caused by Ivo Robotnik, but this was hard to do and so he had adopted a policy of distracting Aura whenever she had asked a question.

Most of the time, Aura hadn't pushed it further, content with having her big brother around and not wanting to upset him, but she had still been curious and after hearing the name Ovi Kintobor mentioned somewhere, had leapt at the chance to learn more about him when one day, Kharis had taken her to the library and she had spotted a book about him, sneaking it between her other choices just before they had gone to the counter and talking to him to make sure he didn't notice.

Late at night she would read it with a torch under the covers, and though some of the things it had talked about were hard to understand, Aura had understood enough to feel a deep pit of fear in her stomach when Ovi Kintobor and his son, Takashi, had stepped out of the MESU.

Kintobor's early life had been a mystery, Aura recalled, appearing out of nowhere at the age of twenty, unable to speak the Mobian language and unknowing of many social and cultural customs. This had been explained as a brain injury, believed to have been caused by an influx of chaos energy but with numerous other theories that had been as abundant as those for where he had come from in the first place.

Aura knew better.

After Kharis had found the book, he had confronted her and they had argued - one of the few times she could remember it being more serious than pleading to stay up late or have dessert before dinner. In turn she had complained about his over-protectiveness, but shocked to see his face crumple as he said all he wanted to do was protect her before sitting her down and talking about so many of the things he had always avoided - the occupation of South Island, their parent's deaths and the truth about Ovi Kintobor and where he had come from, which had helped Aura to accept her own powers.

That night had marked a turning point in their relationship, but less than a month later Kharis had died and she had left Mobius forever.

Now she was back.

On one level - as she stared into the water - Aura understood that no matter what Robotnik had done, Ovi Kintobor was not the same. The writer of the book had explained that Kintobor had - or would, since it was still in the future - been performing experiments with negative chaos energy and something had gone wrong, saturating him with it and altering his brain patterns, turning him into the person responsible for so much pain and destruction.

It had destroyed Ovi Kintobor and killed his son, who had died when their home had been destroyed.

Aura knew that Kintobor had been - and right now still was - a kind man who had wanted nothing more than to help and that he and Robotnik were as different as chalk and cheese - an Earth expression she had picked up - but the pain and suffering she and so many others had suffered at the hands of the man he would become made her stomach churn, and what made it so much worse was knowing that she couldn't stop it.

Aura buried her face in her hands again.

_'It isn't fair..._

* * *

"...um, what just happened?"

Kirk sighed, frustrated. "Aura teleported."

Takashi's ears perked up "Like I did with the emeralds? Does she have one?"

"Aura is able to teleport with her own abilities" Spock explained. "Since arriving, she has been below par, and apprehensive about returning to her home planet. I believe that she wishes to be alone."

"As much as I would like to give her it," Kirk frowned. "Aura is the only way we can get back where we belong, so we need to find her."

"How do we do that?" McCoy grumbled, wishing he was back on the _Enterprise_ again. "We don't know where she is."

"I believe I may be of assistance" Spock said. "During our last meld I gleamed some memories, though quite by accident."

"Yeah, sure." McCoy muttered.

Spock continued, ignoring him "Since Aura would want to be somewhere she feels safe, I believe one of those memories may be the key." He turned to Kharis. "Do you know of a waterfall somewhere in this region?"

Kharis nodded "Quite a few, but why ask me?"

"You travel, and therefore may know where this place is."

"Okay" Kharis nodded again. "I'll need a few details though, I've seen quite a few."

Spock turned over his memories of the meld. "This waterfall runs over a variety of large and small rocks of differentiating mineral elements into a medium sized lake. The water is clear and of a depth deep enough to swim in. I also believe the name was that of a type of gemstone native to your planet."

Kharis thought for a moment. "That sounds like Aigua falls."

Takashi immediately took off his backpack and brought out the emeralds. "I know where it is" he said, holding the orange emerald up. "Let me go, I know how to use the emeralds."

"Very well Takashi." Kintobor nodded. "But please be careful and try to hurry back. Our new friends are eager to get back to their ship and we shall do our best to assist them."

"Sure dad." Takashi grinned, flashing him a thumbs up before closing his eyes and concentrating again on the emerald, glowing with the same deep orange and seconds later vanishing with a flash of light that caused them all to cover their eyes.

When they looked again, Takashi was gone.

* * *

Reappearing at the waterfall, Takashi looked around and spotted Aura curled up at the edge of the small lake.

He stepped forward gingerly "Aura?" he probed "You okay? That captain person said you need to come back."

Aura didn't say anything.

Takashi sat down a short distance away.

Aura seemed to be physically fine and he figured she just needed a few minutes to calm down. He knew those other humans back at the MESU said they needed to leave sooner rather than later, but Takashi knew how annoying it was when all he wanted was to be left alone but nobody would let him, so he kept his distance, figuring a few minutes wouldn't hurt.

All he could do was wait for her.

* * *

"Shouldn't they have been back by now?" Kirk asked a few minutes later, growing increasingly impatient. "I know Aura needs time, but I'm going to feel better when we get back to our universe."

"You want to make her take the whole ship back, Jim?" McCoy asked with concern.

Kirk frowned. "Don't you want to go back too, Bones?"

"Of course I want to go back Jim, but when she brought us here it could have killed her. How d'ya know it wouldn't if we tried it again?"

Throwing up his hands Kirk paced up and down "I don't! But at the moment, it's the only thing we know will work!"

"Captain, calm down." Spock said "We shall look at our options when the time comes, but for the moment we must be content to wait until Aura and Takashi return."

Sighing, Kirk stopped and rubbed his forehead. "You're right Spock. As usual." He added wryly. "I'd still feel better back on the _Enterprise_ though."

"Yeah, same here." McCoy agreed.

Kintobor chuckled at the interplay between the two. Then he glanced across to where the emeralds lay and saw that Kharis had picked one up and was studying it intently. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to find them" Kharis stated calmly. "I trust Takashi, but Aura was upset earlier and I helped her. Maybe I can again."

"I thought only Takashi could use the emeralds." McCoy looked confused.

"Not necessarily." Kintobor shook his head. "Takashi may be able to enter the warp zone because of his chaos ability and has been the only Mobian I have seen use the emeralds so far, but all Mobians have some connection to chaos energy and thus to the emeralds. Those with special abilities may be more attuned to their energy, but theoretically any Mobian should be able to tap into their power."

"I'm willing to give it a try. I want to help." Kharis told them.

"Just concentrate like Takashi did. Form a picture of where you wish to go in your mind and it should take you there" Kintobor instructed him, eager to see whether his hypothesis was true.

"Okay" Kharis nodded, picking the green emerald to use and leaving the purple one on the ground. Like Takashi, he closed his eyes and did as Kintobor told him, remembering his trip to the waterfall and picturing it in his mind. As he did, he felt a connection to the strange energy of the emerald, which bathed him in a glow of green light and told the energy to take him to where the place he thought of was, hoping it would work, and just as Takashi had, he disappeared as well.

* * *

Takashi was still sitting quietly when he arrived.

Aura hadn't moved, but had lifted her head from between her knees where they now rested on top, arms still curled around her as if this gave some kind of protection.

She looked up as Kharis stepped over and knelt down beside her.

Kharis could see tears in her eyes, with trails where they had run through her fur and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

Aura nodded. "I just needed to get away."

"What happened?"

"When I saw Kintobor I panicked. The last humans I met before Captain Kirk and the others back there weren't very friendly." Aura shook her head, sighing. "'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, but so much's been happening..."

"You've not been well." Kharis assured her, placing an arm around Aura and hugging her. "It's okay, we all understand."

"Yeah." Takashi said, smiling "My dad's a really nice guy."

Aura nodded. "I'm sure he is, but I don't know him as well as you do."

"Guess so." Takashi shrugged.  
_  
_Kharis placed a hand on Aura's shoulder, face drawn. "I'm sorry about this, Aura, but we need to get going. I think your friends want to get back where they came from and apparently you're the only one who can do it."

Aura nodded, accepting Kharis' hand to stand up, then clenched a fist, surprising Kharis when it was surrounded with a yellowish glow like the emeralds - and even more when small sparks of energy leapt from her fingers. "I got them into this mess and I can get them out."

It seemed to Kharis that when Aura closed her eyes, took a deep breath and intertwined her fingers she was looking within herself for something.

Then she opened her eyes. "Take my hands."

"You want to take us back?" Kharis was concerned. "Are you sure that won't make you sick again?"

Aura seemed sure enough as she nodded "I've got enough energy to get us back."

"How can you tell?" Takashi asked, brow furrowed.

Aura shrugged. "I just do."

"We could use the emeralds." Kharis suggested.

"Not for all of us" Takashi shook his head. "I used 'em a lot today - brought the MESU, Kintobor and those two humans here, and we just used them now. They need to recharge."

Kharis folded his arms. "I thought the emeralds were meant to be all-powerful - at least that's what the myths all say - how can they need to recharge?"

Takashi shrugged again. "Dad said it might be something to do with the fact they've not been used for a really really long time. I wasn't really listening."

Aura thought for a moment. "I've got an idea for that, but can you use them for getting yourself back?"

"Yeah," Takashi nodded. "I just don't think they have enough power left for anyone else. I don't know how to explain it, but I just know."

"Like my powers." Aura pointed out. "If you trust me, I trust you Takashi."

"Same here." Kharis decided, taking Aura's hand while Takashi gathered both emeralds and grasped each in a hand, then closed his eyes and teleported himself to the MESU.

Aura turned back to her brother and tried to keep her voice calm and steady. This wouldn't be the first time she had teleported another person with her and nothing seriously wrong had happened yet, but there was always a first time and this was her brother. "Um... I don't need you to think of where we're going, but you've got to keep a hold on me or something might happen."

Kharis nodded. "Got it."

Breathing deeply, Aura closed her eyes and looked inside for the energy that drove her powers.

It was there, and seemed like a flickering flame of some sort which she grasped, allowing the energy within it to flow through her body and pass into her limbs, head, and finally to her hands.

Then it passed into Kharis as well, and he felt his body hum slightly, a strange yet amazing feeling, like extreme joy mixed with the weird sensation of pins and needles. It wasn't uncomfortable or painful, but not any kind of normal feeling either and he wondered whether this was what Aura felt every time she teleported. If it was, then he could understand why she kept travelling - to feel that and be able to visit so many amazing places sounded like a dream.

Aura took a long, deep breath as her mind formed a picture of where they had last been.

Most of the time when she used her teleportation power, she just told it to take her anywhere, having no real destination in mind, but if she wanted to go anywhere specific she either needed to have been there, have a very good idea of where it was or at least know the location - the first was the most accurate, but was still mostly theory, since Aura had rarely used her teleportation to get somewhere she knew.

Still, Aura was confident she could do it.

There were also the logistics of teleporting another person, which was more difficult, because as well as keeping in mind where she was going, she also had to make sure she could feel Kharis' life energy as well. This did take more of her energy, but there was still some lingering from teleporting the _Enterprise_, despite her illness, so she knew she wasn't risking Kharis' life in any way.

Only when she had all this together did Aura set it in motion.

Both vanished in a flash.

* * *

Back at the MESU, Kintobor whirled around as the entire inside of the vehicle was bathed in the glow of the purple chaos emerald, which he had just been about to return to the containment unit.

Rushing around and checking several machines, he heard Captain Kirk and his crewmen re-enter the MESU.

"Professor, what's going on?"

"I don't know!" Kintobor shook his head frantically. "Something is affecting the emerald."

"Perhaps there is another nearby?" Spock suggested. "Or your charge, Takashi, has returned, and the energy emitted by the emerald he is using is affecting the emerald you have in your possession."

"That's all well and good" McCoy grumbled. "But what on earth is happening?"

Before Kintobor could say anything, an answer came as the entire craft was engulfed in the glow, then disappeared from sight, at the same time the emerald using what little energy it had and shooting into the sky.


	9. In which Aura places herself in danger

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter nine** - In which Aura places herself in danger.

* * *

When he arrived and found no trace of the MESU, Takashi was worried. When he couldn't find Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, Spock and most importantly his father, Takashi started to feel scared - his recent conversation with Doctor McCoy coming back and a disturbing thought entering his mind.

What if he had been abandoned again?

Deep down, Takashi knew this was impossible - his father had taken him in and cared about Takashi, but he struggled to think of another explanation for why they had all vanished into thin air.

Swallowing, Takashi ran around the clearing, forgetting that he was meant to be keeping his ability secret as he shouted at the top of his voice. "DAD!"

There was no answer.

"DAD!"

Still nothing - the clearing was completely deserted.

Takashi skidded to a halt as another flash in the clearing signalled the arrival of Aura and Kharis.

Aura fell to her knees, realising that the boost of energy that had been lingering from her unintentional use of the _Enterprise's_ warp drive was now out of her system. This was normal, since any energy she absorbed from another source - as opposed to just letting her body recharge what she could store naturally - didn't last for long.

Though a little light-headed, nothing seemed seriously wrong as she accepted Kharis' help to stand.

**"DAD!"  
**  
"Where did they go?" Kharis looked around, then at Takashi, who was now shouting into the sky as if it would somehow bring his father back. "...Takashi?"

"This is YOUR fault!" Takashi yelled, pointing a finger at Aura and shaking off any attempts by Kharis to calm him down. "If you hadn't disappeared I wouldn't've come after you and I'd know where my dad was!"

Aura swallowed, feeling guilty and ashamed. "I'm sorry..."

"I don't care!" Takashi snapped. "I hate you!"

"Takashi!"

The young hedgehog turned to Kharis. "What!?"

"I know you're angry, but you can't blame Aura. We don't know what happened and it might have happened even if we had been here." Kharis looked Takashi straight in the eye. "Until we know what happened, you should try to calm down."

"Guess so..." Takashi muttered, kicking a stone. "Still don't like it."

"Takashi?"

"Yeah?"

"Like I said, I'm sorry." Aura suppressed a shiver at the cold. "When I've got enough energy to teleport again, I'll try to find them."

Takashi nodded. "Okay."

Kharis on the other hand frowned. "You look pretty shaky to me. How are you going to get the energy?"

"Don't worry about that." Aura pointed to herself. "Leave that to me."

Kharis scratched his head. "Huh?"

Aura indicted the gathering storm clouds above. The weather had changed dramatically since they had left and the previously fluffy white cumulonimbus were now swollen dark grey, heavy with rain, while thunder echoed every few seconds.

As they watched, a few drops of rain fell to the ground.

"We'll be getting lightning soon." Kharis mused.

Aura nodded. "That's exactly what I want - you'd better stand back."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

A few moments later a flash of lightning lit up the sky.

Aura looked up and nodded with a satisfied expression, raising her hands and sending a small wave of energy through them. It was all she had after teleporting, emitting only slight sparks as her body was surrounded in a dim glow, not enough to defend herself, but hopefully enough to do what she wanted.

Increasing the flow as much as possible, Aura felt light-headed and wavered on her feet for a moment, but remained standing as a bolt of lightning suddenly shot downwards and hit her, her cry of pain muffled by the thunder that rolled through the sky moments later.

As the energy streaked through her body, down every single vein, every limb, Kharis watched in horrified fascination - Aura was in pain, he could see that clearly on her face as she let out a silent scream, agonising and excruciating, as the electrical energy of the thunderstorm was converted into the energy that drove her powers.

Then she smiled.

Kharis was confused - just a second before it had seemed that she was being torn from the inside out and now she was happy?

Then he knew.

It was like a drug.

From what he had read about those with chaos abilities, Kharis knew that with time and rest the store of energy that drove their powers would replenish itself naturally, so it stood to reason then that if they tried to top it up from another source it could be dangerous and while Aura was in pain, as the energy was absorbed it was inducing a feeling of euphoria that he knew had to be difficult to resist.

Kharis let out a relieved sigh as Aura broke the connection.

The lightning dissipated and she fell to her knees, energy still crackling over her body as the skies opened and began to rain.

Kharis edged forward gingerly.

Aura's eyes were closed tightly, her teeth clenched as she breathed in and out shallowly, then deeper as she became more aware of her surroundings.

"Are you okay?" Kharis asked.

Aura nodded and waved off his help as she stood up, wavering slightly as the blood rushed to her head, her eyes glinting in triumph. "Fantastic - I knew it would work!"

Kharis frowned. "You've never done this before?"

"Not this way." Aura admitted reluctantly. "But I can recharge from other forms of energy and I can use lightning, so I figured a lightning-bolt would work."

"Well it did," Kharis admitted. "but don't take that kind of risk again, okay?"

Aura nodded, suppressing a strangely sad smile at his behaviour. "I won't."

Takashi snickered.

"What's wrong?" Aura asked, then looked down and raised an eyebrow at her clothes, which were now singed and torn in several places. "That doesn't usually happen. I guess it's a good job I've got more." Picking up her backpack she turned to the shack, pausing at the doorway. "A little privacy?"

Kharis nodded.

"What's up with wearing clothes anyway?" Takashi remarked as Aura stepped into the shack, pulling back the piece of material that served as a curtain and got changed into something that hadn't been char-grilled.

Kharis shrugged. "We just do. Don't knock it unless you've tried it, kid."

"Don't call me kid and I won't." Takashi replied. "Besides, my spines'd just rip 'em anyway."

"I just hope she doesn't take as long as girls are reported to." Kharis whispered to Takashi. "My dad said it always took mom ages to get ready when they were first going out."

"I heard that!" Aura called from inside the shack.

A few minutes later she stepped out, now wearing a green pair of combat trousers and a blue t-shirt with a lighter star motif, over which was the jacket she had taken off before recharging. They had all seen better days, the trousers having a large patch across both knees and the shirt ripped at the bottom, but was understandable given Aura's nomadic lifestyle, where new clothes were hard to come by.

Placing her old clothes in her backpack - hoping to mend them later - Aura took out a scrunchie and tied her hair back, then put on a bandanna to stop her bangs obscuring her vision.

"Okay." She nodded, hoisting her backpack on her shoulders. "Let's go find them."

"How?" Kharis asked. "We don't know where they are."

"Well..." Aura tapped her chin. "I can't find them, but what if we could use the emeralds? Takashi?"

"Yeah." Takashi nodded, understanding her reasoning. "We left an emerald here, so if we use the others to find 'em, we'd find Kintobor!" Takashi sighed. "But we can't use the emeralds, they're out of power..."

Kharis looked sceptical. "Obviously I don't know as much about the emeralds as you do, but all the myths said they possessed 'great and limitless power' - how can they be drained so easily?"

Takashi scratched his ear. "I dunno, but dad said it might be because they've been hidden away for so long. That they've got to connect with the planet again." He shrugged. "I think he's right, 'cause I can feel them and they don't feel healthy, but they will in a while."

"How long?" Kharis asked. "I got the feeling that time was of the essence here."

"I don't know..." Takashi hung his head.

Aura gave a wry smile. "The emeralds run on energy?""

"Right..."

"And they need more energy, right?"

"Yeah..." Takashi paused, then grinned. "I get it! You're gonna recharge them!"

"That's why I recharged myself just now." Aura explained to Kharis as she was handed the emeralds. "I might not have used a lightning storm to recharge before, but if it's the same as every other time I've recharged my powers, the energy won't last long."

"Just be careful." Kharis frowned.

Aura nodded as she closed her eyes and sensed the energy within her.

New and vibrant, it flowed easily through her body to her fingertips and was pushed into the emerald, which pulsated as it absorbed and then adapted the energy from the lightning storm.

Several long, tense minutes passed.

Aura hissed sharply as fresh pain flowed through her body, but unlike before there was no euphoria and when she tried to calm herself to try and figure out why a fresh new wave of pain spiked through her head and shattered her focus. When she did manage to clear her head, Aura realised with shock that with enough energy within them, the emeralds had activated a self-defence mechanism. They were now in control of the energy transfer and unable to distinguish that from the lightning storm were trying to take all the energy they could - including that which Aura needed to live.

Reacting instinctively she tried to drop the emeralds, but both seemed glued to her hands.

She couldn't even move.

"It's the emeralds!" Takashi realised as Aura cried out in pain. "They're doing something!"

"I know, but how do we get them away from her?" Kharis reached forward and recoiled as he was shocked. "What do we do?"

Aura couldn't hear what they were saying, having given in and screaming as the most painful feeling she had ever felt spread through her body, encompassing anything she could remember. Sparks flew from her hands as she fought the energy drain of the emeralds, but as each second passed it seemed that nothing would get her away and her vision dimmed, but as it did her hearing heightened and she heard voices.

She heard Kharis calling to her.

Memories of happier times in her past and his future rushed through her head, then those of his death, how he had made her promise to run, to carry on and that although it had hurt, she had. It had been several years, most of which she had spent on her own, alone and often scared, faced with situations her brother would never have wanted her to be faced with, but which she had come through only to face her own death here.

She couldn't let that happen.

Changing her approach, Aura stopped trying to take back the energy from the emeralds, instead gathering all that remained in her own body and hoping it would work. It did - with a burst of light the emeralds flew away, landing a few feet away in the glass where they continued to glow with energy.

Aura's legs buckled and she fell into Kharis' arms, shuddering with each breath she took as her nerves continued to register the residual pain left by her struggle.

As sensation returned, she felt Kharis stroking the back of her head gently, matting her purple hair against her scalp. "It's okay. You're okay. Everything's going to be fine."

Aura nodded, though she felt far from fine. Her entire body throbbed and a massive headache was rendering her skull almost asunder. She couldn't remember the last time she had ever felt like this and there was nothing that Kharis could do to make the pain go away.

His arms, curled around her, were comforting to the mind, but not for the body and she went limp in his arms, hoping that this might help lessen the pain.

"Aura?" Kharis sounded worried as he looked into her eyes.

"M'okay." Aura tried to steady her breathing, recalling what she had heard of visualisation - how thinking of a cold place could help cool you down when you were somewhere hot or the other way around and imagined all her pain being gathered into one place as she took a breath inwards, then imagined it leaving her body as she exhaled. It helped a little, but not much and she wished Spock was there, remembering how he had helped her before.

Looking at Kharis didn't help either as the pain came in waves, first physical, then emotional. The memories that had helped her before were now flooding into her mind and as he continued to look at her with that same look of brotherly concern she was reminded yet again how much she missed him.

Takashi went over to the emeralds and shoved them into his backpack, snapping it shut.

"I'm not doing that again..." Aura stated firmly as she pushed herself free of Kharis' embrace. "Urgh..."

"Are you alright?" Takashi asked, hesitantly stepping forward.

Aura nodded, grimacing as a fresh, though relatively minor wave of pain rushed through her system again. "I'm okay. Still hurts though." She didn't want to remember how it had felt as the emerald had tried to steal her energy, but something was telling her to and trusting her instincts she closed her eyes and concentrated, like Spock had with the meld.

They flew open less than a second later as she was hit with a realisation that hit her with the force of a sledgehammer. "I know where Spock is!"

"You do!?"

Aura nodded, excited herself. "I don't know how I know, but I do! I thought of Spock and something told me."

"Where!?" Takashi demanded, jumping up and down in excitement. If Aura knew where Spock was, he had to be with the others - Doctor McCoy, Captain Kirk and most importantly his father. "Where?!"

"I..." Aura opened her mouth, then closed it. She didn't know how to put it into words, couldn't describe the exact location even though she knew instinctively where it was and gave up on words, lifting a shaking finger and pointing it at Takashi's backpack. "The emeralds. They're in the emeralds!"

Takashi blinked "Um, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes!" Aura protested angrily. "I could feel power all around them! The same kind that just tried to kill me!"

Takashi took the emeralds out. As he stared at the one in his hand, he realised Aura was telling the truth, and not only that, but that he couldn't explain why either. "You're wrong," he paused. "They're not in the emeralds. They're in the warp zone."

"In the warp zone?" Kharis asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and if they're in the zone that means there's an emerald nearby."

"We don't have the purple emerald." Kharis pointed out. "Kintobor still had it."

Takashi nodded, pulling out the emerald scanning device and activating it. Although his father had invented the device, Takashi had been taught the basic functions, since he was the only one who could utilize their power.

At least he used to think so, until today had taught him that other Mobians did have a connection to the emeralds. It was something his father had said was possible, though from what Takashi remembered, his father had said it would probably be confined to those with close relatives with a chaos ability or had one themselves, which made sense - his and Aura's chaos abilities and how Kharis had been able to use the emerald were proof of that.

Takashi noticed they were standing over his shoulders and glared at Aura, his spines nearly scraping Kharis' face as he turned. "Hey, do you mind?"

Both looked guilty as they backed away, Kharis more hastily and carefully, not wanting to be threatened with the spines again.

The device began to emit a steady bleeping noise.

Takashi's ears perked up. "I've got something! This way!"

They all started running, Aura and Kharis following Takashi who had almost forgotten the promise he had made to his father. A part of him wondered why he had to, since they knew he could use the chaos emeralds and probably wouldn't be shocked to learn of him having a chaos ability so young - after all, Aura did as well - but the consequences of the wrong person finding out were enough to silence him - at least until he spoke to his father.

Leaving the woodland behind, the signal led them into an area of open grassland and to the edge of a river, calm and clear, but deep enough to not see the bottom.

Kharis picked up a pebble and casually tossed it in.

Takashi scanned the water nervously, swallowing when all signs pointed to the emerald being in the river.

"What's the problem?"

Takashi tried to think up an excuse. "Uh... the emerald's caught in a sinkhole down there. We can't get it."

"No problem." Kharis removed his shirt. "Leave it to me. It's about time I get in on the heroics." Showing off, he performed a perfect dive into the water, pushing past it down to the bottom.

Takashi stared into the water. "Are you worried?"

Aura shook her head. "No, he's a good swimmer."

Takashi frowned "how would you know?"

Aura searched for an excuse. "Well, you saw that dive. A bad swimmer would have made a mistake, probably tripped or something."

"...Right." Takashi turned his attention back to the swirling waters, his stomach tying itself into a knot.

Aura frowned. She could tell that Takashi had been lying about the sinkhole, but had thought at first that he just didn't want to admit not being able to swim, but the more she watched him, the more she noticed his anxiety and the more she became convinced that he had a phobia of water and she understood how terrifying that kind of fear could be. If she concentrated, she could still feel the heat of the flames outside her room, dimly remember her father pushing her through a gap in the door before part of the roof had collapsed and stopped him escaping...

Shaking this off, Aura looked at Takashi, who was idly throwing pebbles into the water. "Takashi?"

"Yeah..."

Aura hoped she would handle this well - Kharis had never encouraged her to face her fear and she wasn't sure how much use she could be. "We all have things we're afraid of. You're afraid of water, but lots of people are. Don't think you're weak because you have a fear of something. Sometimes it's a good thing."

Takashi raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"Well," Aura shrugged. "Fear tells us when it's not safe to do something. Fear's a part of intuition, so you've got to trust your fear and appreciate it. In that way I guess fear's a part of wisdom."

Takashi swallowed. "But what I needed to go into the water? What if Kharis got into trouble and I had to go in?"

"We have to get past it. If we care enough for our friends, we can get past our fear."

"If you or Kharis or Kintobor were in danger, I'd try to get you out." Takashi cast a glance at the water. It still seemed frightening, but not as much as the thought of losing any of his friends or family. He knew he would have gone into the deepest ocean if it could have brought his grandfather back. "What are you afraid of?"

Aura hesitated. "Fire. It's always scared me, ever since..." She trailed off for a moment, then shook her head. "For a long time."

Takashi understood. If there was something else he didn't like, it was fire, how it burned and destroyed things so you couldn't even tell what they had been. "I almost drowned once a few years ago. My grandfather took me ice-skating, but it broke while I was on it. He got me out, but I've been scared of going in water ever since. Lots of people don't understand, they tell me it's stupid to be scared of the water, but they don't know what it's like..." Takashi took a shuddering breath. "I just can't do it."

"I was five years old." Aura wasn't sure why she was telling him, she didn't usually open up like this. "There was a fire in our house, my parents were trapped and couldn't get out, but I was saved by a hero."

"A hero?" Takashi looked interested. "I'd like to be a hero. My dad said that there are people with chaos abilities who help rescue people, I'd like to do that."

Aura didn't reply, distracted by a dark shape coming up to the surface of the water.

Seconds later, Kharis broke the surface, gasping down lungfuls of air and flipping back his now-soaked hair, holding up a bright shining gem that cast the area in a purple glow before dimming.

"You got it!" Takashi exclaimed joyfully, catching the chaos emerald as Kharis threw it to him.

Aura helped Kharis out of the water, where he shook himself to get most of the water off. The thunderstorm, though fierce, had passed quickly and the sun was now hot, so it wouldn't be long before he would be completely dry. He paused for a moment, looking at his soaked trousers, then taking his backpack to get changed behind a nearby tree, returning a few moments later, laying his other pair on the ground and putting his shirt back on.

"So what do we do now?" Kharis asked.

"It's close, but we've got to wait a bit longer." Takashi said glumly, spines and ears hanging downwards, suppressing a shudder. "I dunno what might have happened to 'em..."

"They'll be fine Takashi. We'll get them out just as soon as the emeralds are recharged." Aura assured him. "Let's just wait."

"I _hate_ waiting..." Takashi grumbled, but flopped down onto the floor, his backpack falling open and the contents spilling out.

Groaning, he began to gather them all up.

As she helped, Aura picked up something just by her foot and studied it. It was a rectangular unmarked pack, which she opened it to find a full set of playing cards. They were from Earth and looked hand-made, with slightly uneven edges and hand-drawn symbols. She had owned a pack once, given to her by some friends on a version of Earth, but had lost them a few months earlier.

Memories of being taught dozens of different games making her smile as she handled the deck. "Takashi, are these yours?"

"Yeah." Takashi nodded. "Dad made 'em. He taught me loads of great games. You want to play one?"

"We might as well." Kharis suggested. "There's nothing we can do until the emeralds have recharged and it might help to pass the time."

"You sound like that Spock guy." Takashi pointed out as he dealt out the cards.

Aura smiled at the thought - it was something she'd expect Spock to say.

It was strange, she hadn't known the Vulcan for long, but despite his reluctance to show any emotion Aura had found him to be somebody she would consider a friend, a true friend, somebody she could depend upon, which despite how many places she had been to and how many people she had met had been a rare thing.

A short while later found them playing a game Takashi called Go-Fish, a simple, yet addictive game that had quickly been dominated by Kharis, much to Takashi's barely-concealed irritation, who hadn't expected somebody who had never played Go-Fish before to be any good at it. After winning just one game out of six, he had left Aura to try and even the scores and turned back to his hand-held computer game.

"Got any tens?"

Kharis mock-groaned and handed over two cards. "Got any fives?"

"Drat." Aura laughed, taking three cards from her hand. "You sunk my battleship."

Kharis took the cards. He was enjoying the game, but at the edge of his mind was still thinking about why he and Aura looked so alike. They both had the same grey fur and black-tipped ears, not to mention the purple hair, traits he had inherited from both his parents and he wondered whether they were related somehow. If Aura had been older, it could have made sense, but she was younger - at least six years younger than Kharis, who knew he would have remembered something like that.

Noticing his quick and occasional glances towards her, Aura felt her stomach twist itself into knots. Spock wasn't here and the card game, though fun, couldn't rid her of the temptation to tell Kharis everything, leaving her conscience as the only thing to hold her back. She wasn't sure it was was strong enough, eroded little by little every time she looked at him, knowing that had the power to prevent not only his death, but so many others.

Aura swallowed.


	10. In which there is a startling revelation

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter nine** - In which there is a startling revelation.

* * *

"For the love of God, Jim, will you sit down and stop pacing! There's nothing you can do to help, so you might as well take a breath. Smell the roses."

"If there were roses here, Bones, I'd be all too happy to do so." Kirk retorted, stopping only to glare at McCoy. "But right now there's nothing I can do but pace. It's how I burn energy, keep up my strength." He eyed McCoy's stomach. "Something you might consider."

"Hey!" McCoy bristled. "I only had one egg and sausage biscuit for breakfast this morning, thank you very much!"

Kirk shook his head. "Then it's true what they say - doctors make terrible patients."

McCoy grumbled in response. "Maybe, but you and Spock always make the worst patients. Together you get into so much trouble that I'm amazed I've got any hair left." When Kirk opened his mouth, McCoy held up a finger. "You got trapped in an alternate dimension - which makes this the second time - Spock's had his brain stolen and then you were both turned into old men!"

"So were you."

"Least I knew when I couldn't do my job, which is more than I could say for you!"

"Perhaps if you both considered restraint, this delay would be much more tolerable."

McCoy whirled around. "Maybe if you weren't so damned smug all the time, you pointy-eared hob-goblin!"

"Smugness is an emotion, Doctor," Spock said pointedly. "I have learned to hold myself back when necessary."

"Which makes you all the better as a conscience, Spock."

"Thank you, Captain."

McCoy rolled his eyes. "Conscience, my foot."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "I have always found that phrase - 'my foot' - to be most fascinating. Where did it originate?"

McCoy groaned, "I don't know! My father used to say it all the time though."

Spock bobbed his head once. "Given the amount of cadets who used that phrase and similar ones at the Academy during my time there, it would be illogical to assume that your father conceived the phrase himself. I shall have to investigate."

McCoy slapped himself in the face "Of course my father didn't invent the phrase, I said he USED it!" His voice sunk incredibly low "Blasted Vulcan."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Your insults do not seem to have the same variety, Doctor. You have called me a 'blasted Vulcan' twelve times in the last twenty-four hours. Perhaps this new setting is affecting your brain capacity?"

McCoy didn't say anything, fuming.

Kirk tried hard not to let loose the laughter building up - sometimes all he needed to loosen up was to listen to Spock and McCoy argue, because after all they did say laughter was the best medicine - even McCoy would agree with that. Spock obviously wouldn't, considering he had never laughed a day in his life, though he had come close once, during the Blood Fever rituals whilst in the throes of Pon Farr. He could still remember that time all too vividly - as his own right hand man had tried to kill him, filled with incomprehensible, blinding rage, but then, later, the smile on Spock's face when he saw that Kirk was still alive and then how he had then grabbed Kirk by the shoulders and nearly hugged him.

He glanced over at Spock.

_'He's a lot more emotional than you give him credit for, Bones.'_

McCoy was right though, pacing wasn't going to help anything and it wasn't as if Kirk hadn't been stuck in this sort of situation before. Even on the _Enterprise_ there had been times when he could do nothing but sit in his chair and wait for new developments, but at least there he had been in control, whereas here it was Kintobor who had all the answers, and since Kirk didn't understand much about this 'warp zone' they were apparently in, he had to be prepared to trust in the scientist's judgement that going outside right now would be a very bad idea.

"Kinda makes me wish I still had that snakes and ladders set" McCoy mused, forgetting his argument with Spock. "Something would be good to pass the time right now."

"Snakes and ladders doctor?" Spock probed.

Ignoring him, McCoy turned to look towards the front of the MESU, where Kintobor was sat over the monitor, doing something or other on one of the computers. After watching for a few seconds he got up, evidently deciding to see what he was doing, Kirk following shortly after.

Spock remained where he was.

Though he would never admit it out loud, he was concerned. So long as they remained inside the MESU, there seemed to be no immediate risk for himself, Kirk, McCoy or Kintobor, but they had no idea what was happening with Aura, Kharis and Takashi and could not be certain they were safe. Then there was the stress that Aura had been placed under since her arrival on the _Enterprise_ and though Spock was impressed by how she had managed to survive on her own so far, he doubted that she would be able to keep herself in check without their supervision.

The young hedgehog - Takashi - fascinated him. No more than a child, yet his abilities exceeded those of most beings Spock had met, which was impressive, considering the broad range of beings he had come into contact with before and since joining Star Fleet. He didn't know what the child's destiny might be - though he had his suspicions based on the memories he had seen in the meld - but Takashi had enormous potential, especially if he were to tap the incredible, unfathomable abilities of the chaos emeralds.

Then there was Kharis. From what Spock had seen, it seemed fairly certain that Aura's abilities were not genetic, but Kintobor had said the chaos emeralds could only be used by those with a chaos ability, which made Spock wonder whether Kharis had an ability that had so far remained undetected - he had been extremely impressed when Aura had explained about her teleportation and electrokinesis and it seemed ironic that in their small group he was the oldest, but in a dangerous situation would be the most disadvantaged.

Musing on this, Spock didn't notice McCoy come up, looking concerned as he waved the tricorder over Spock's body."Spock, we really ought to get you back to the ship. You need food and a major boost in your electrolytes."

"I feel within my ability to perform my duties, Doctor."

"Yeah, sure." McCoy rolled his eyes. "You're sittin' down, that's why you feel good. Just try standing up and see where it gets you."

"Gentlemen, we should be out momentarily." Kintobor announced, adding under his breath. "For which I'm eminently grateful."

Spock heard this comment, but chose not to supplement it with a response.

"How?" Kirk asked.

Kintobor frowned. "I have absolutely no idea how, but since the energy fluctuation of the zone appears to be changing rapidly, we must assume that the emeralds are undergoing some form of recharging, given their connection to the warp zone."

"Which means?"

"Well..." Kintobor shifted. "Whilst I have no idea how to get us out, I can tell you that our friends on the other side must be unharmed."

"How can you assume this?" Spock countered. "You have no proof."

"The chaos emeralds are connected, however fractionally, to the life force of everything on Mobius." Kintobor explained. "They recharge a certain way, at a certain speed, dependent on the number. Even harm to a creature causes their rate to change. They are currently charging at the rate that has been consistent with this entire endeavour thus far, so I must make the assumption that nothing ill has happened to them." Kintobor sighed. "I would love to go into further detail, but we can discuss the specifics later."

Suddenly there was a bright flash, leaving everyone temporarily blinded.

"What was that!" McCoy shouted as the MESU seemed to bounce, indicating that it must have hit solid ground, grumbling and rubbing his head where it had banged against something. Looking around he was grateful to see that they had all escaped serious injury. Spock had a thin cut along his eyelid that was seeping green blood, but as usual didn't seem to notice, whilst Kirk, with his usual luck appeared to be fine.

He picked up the small first-aid kit kept in the MESU.

"It seems that the outside atmosphere is no longer harmful." Kintobor informed them, wincing as McCoy fastened a bandage around his arm from where he had fallen against the corner of the console, ripping a hole in his shirt. "After you, gentlemen."

It was nothing like they could have imagined.

The scene in front of them looked as if they had all taken highly hallucinogenic drugs, and Spock briefly wondered if the doctor had been right, and his mind and body were so exhausted that this could not be real, but as he looked at Kirk and McCoy it became clear that wherever they were, it was real.

The sky was a mixture of blue and green, with pale yellow clouds drifting through the air. When he looked down, there was no ground as such to speak of, instead, the MESU had landed on a fairly flat piece of grass, which seemed ordinary enough, but was the only piece of ground in sight and seemed to be floating in some sort of void with a rope bridge that seemed to have no end. Planks of wood formed the base, which Kirk tentatively placed a foot on, then stepped back, watched carefully by McCoy.

"Amazing..." Kintobor breathed, looking around, eyes shining. "Takashi has told me of the strange appearance of the warp zone and that it changed each and every time he entered it, but still, to see it with my own eyes!"

Kirk turned to Kintobor. "We're in the warp zone?"

"Indeed." Kintobor nodded, his excitement obvious. "This is where Takashi goes to retrieve the chaos emeralds. It can only be that. Nothing else would account for such a bizarre relocation."

"This entire escapade has been nothing _but_ bizarre." McCoy complained.

"So how do we get back?" Kirk asked, ignoring McCoy.

Kintobor gestured towards the bridge. "We must find the chaos emerald hidden within the warp zone."

"How long will that take?"

Kintobor shook his head as he retrieved his portable machinery from the MESU. "I don't know. All I do know is that we will undoubtedly be much longer in returning than Takashi ever was."

"Indeed," Spock nodded. "since we do not possess the same abilities as that of your young charge."

"We can still find it." Kintobor assured them. "When we began to search for the emeralds, I constructed a device for Takashi to use within the warp zone, but when it became apparent that he did not need to use it because of his own connection to the emeralds, it was no longer needed, so I kept it in the MESU."

Spock followed Kintobor into the MESU. "Professor, I was under the assumption that only those with a chaos ability could enter this place, how is it possible that we are here?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Kintobor mused. "When I arrived on Mobius my body was flooded with chaos energy, which altered my DNA to more closely resemble that of a Mobian. When I was examined, it also appeared to have given me a chaos ability. We presumed this was my photographic memory, which had already been above average, but I had assumed that to enter the warp zone you needed a chaos ability that could be manifested in a way to tear the barriers of the pocket dimension." Kintobor picked up the device, a small hand-held unit around the size of Doctor McCoy's tricorder. "Perhaps I was wrong."

"Perhaps."

Leaving the MESU, Kintobor activated the scanner and led the way, stepping onto the rope bridge, which supported his weight with nothing more than a slight movement of the wooden planks, then motioned for Kirk, Spock and McCoy to follow. The MESU remained behind - there was no way to navigate it over the bridge, which in all probability would not be able to support it's weight, so they would return for it later - or would have, had the MESU not appeared to shimmer out of existence seconds after they stepped onto the bridge.

It reminded Kirk of watching somebody transport down from the i_Enterprise/i_ and he shared a surprised glance with Spock and McCoy, then looked at Kintobor.

The scientist frowned. "Perhaps the zone cannot tolerate operating machinery?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "If that were the case your detector would also be gone and the MESU would have disappeared instantaneously."

"Then perhaps we somehow acted as anchors within it." Kintobor gripped his device more tightly. "I really don't know. Perhaps if we simply make sure that one of us is always touching the meter..."

"...then we won't lose it" Kirk finished. "I certainly hope so since it seems to be the only thing that can help us get out of here."

"Then may I suggest we locate this 'emerald' as soon as possible captain, since we do not know how long we can survive here."

"What do you mean Spock?"

Spock inclined his head. "I am simply stating that whilst we know that Kintobor's charge, Takashi, is able to survive in this place, we do not have any data for Humans or Vulcans. Since we are still standing at this moment, we can be assured that we are provided some life support, but we cannot be not certain if it is unlimited or not."

Kintobor nodded "Your hypothesis does seem to hold a valid point. We should hurry, both for ourselves and our friends outside."

The four men trudged onward.

It was truly all they could do.

* * *

Something was beeping.

Takashi put down his video game and dug around in his backpack for a few moments before coming out with a small device. After studying it for a few moments, his face lit up. "The MESU's back! It's at that waterfall we were at a while back."

"Why did it go there?" Kharis asked.

"Who knows." Aura shrugged. "We should get there though."

"Are the emeralds recharged enough?" Kharis looked to Takashi, who shook his head. "What about you, Aura?"

Aura was silent for a moment, then nodded. "I got enough energy from the emeralds and that lightning storm to get myself there and back, but I can't take anyone else."

Takashi frowned. He wanted to go himself, but it would take him hours to run there with the emeralds out of action and he would have to make sure nobody saw him using his chaos ability, so he had to wait.

As she had done earlier - and so many times before - Aura stood up and closed her eyes. It wasn't necessary, but it helped her concentrate. Without any passengers it wouldn't be as exhausting and she had the excess energy from the lightning storm that the emeralds hadn't managed to siphon from her, suppressing a shiver as she concentrated on this power, twisting it to her will and feeling a tingling sensation all along her body as she concentrated on the location of the MESU.

When she opened her eyes, Aura saw the waterfall, then turned around and saw the by now familiar vehicle. On the outside it looked the same, but the door was closed and there was no sign of Spock or the others, so she went up and pulled open the door.

Or at least tried to.

Growling slightly as the handle didn't turn, Aura shouted through the door for Kirk and the others to stand back. Nobody replied, but she assumed they had heard her and proceeded to send a jolt of electricity against the door which snapped the handle off and sent the door swinging back.

Entering the MESU with an apology to Kintobor on her tongue, Aura blinked in surprise as she realised that the reason she hadn't got a response was because there was nobody there to answer her, and when she searched through the cabin, all she found were some loose circuit boards and one of the strange scanning devices that the _Enterprise_ crew used.

What was she meant to do now? She didn't want to go back just yet, not looking forward to disappointing Takashi, but knew she couldn't stay here forever, as tempting as it might be.

Instead, she studied the strange device - a curious rectangular shape, black with a white line around the edge and a smaller, raised surface with a pattern of circles embedded into the material and attached to the base by hinges at the top. This lifted up, showing a whirling pattern set inside a circle, then below it three coloured buttons - orange, red and blue - then a silver plate with two more buttons and another, smaller, pattern of circles.

With no idea what to do, Aura started pressing the buttons until a crackling noise emitted from the bottom, then cleared as a deep, gruff voice came through, sharpening as the seconds dragged on.

_"...Captain? Is that you? What in the bloody hell is goin' on down there!?" _Aura almost jumped back in surprise. She vaguely recognised the voice - the engineer character that Spock had told her would have been left in charge when the Captain and Doctor McCoy had left the ship.

Hesitating for a moment, she lifted the device to her mouth. "...Hello?"

_"Y're not Captain Kirk." _The voice answered. i_"You must be that girl. Do you know where the Captain is?" _"No..." Aura shook her head. "I don't know where he is. Or Spock, or that doctor..."

_"Marvellous."_ The voice sighed. i_"Now the Captain's disappeared too? They all seem to be doing it lately." _Aura swallowed down her guilt. "I'm really sorry... It's my fault."

_"Don't ya worry about it, lass. The Captain has gotten himself into many a scrape before, and he always manages to get out of them too." _Aura smiled, even though he would not be able to see her do so, as far as she knew anyway. "Thank you, but, um, I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but I don't know your name and I can't keep thinking of you as 'that strange voice'."

_"Ach, sorry lass. Ah'm Chief Engineer Scott. Well, at tha moment I'm acting captain, but it all means more strain on the engines..."_ He paused. _"I cannie remember your name either, mind filling me in?"_

"I'm Aura. Aura Starfire."

_"Well, lass, if ye happen to find the captain, will you kindly inform him that by all rights, he shouldna been goin' down to that planet in the first place? No offence to ye, of course, but it's a rule here..."_

Aura nodded. "I'll tell him. You want him to go back up to your ship, right?"

_"If he can ever find his way back to his communicator. Hold on to it for now lass - I'll check up on ye from time to time, wouldna want you to get lost too." _"Okay." Aura folded the communicator back up and stuffed it into her pocket.

She searched around the ship again - this time for anything that could help her find Kirk, Spock and Kintobor. There was a box containing an old game, but more welcoming was a store of food and she took some, imagining that Takashi and Kharis would also be hungry - and if it came from the MESU, it belonged to Kintobor and therefore to Takashi, so it wasn't really stealing.

Aside from that, she didn't find anything that could help, so she left the MESU, went to the lake and took a long, refreshing drink, then teleported back to Takashi and Kharis.

Both were surprised upon her return - knowing about her ability that didn't make her reappearance any less startling as she suddenly blinked into existence practically in front of them with a flash of light, her feet centimetres away from the cards they had been tossing on the ground in a show-offish version of 'War'.

The card that Takashi had been about to toss fluttered out of his grasp and to the ground in front of him as he gaped in surprise.

Aura suppressed a smile - it was always fun to see somebody react to her teleportation like that, especially considering some of the other responses she had received - shape-shifter, demon, monster, inhuman - and they had been the words she had understood. "Did I miss anything?"

Takashi continued to gape.

Kharis nudged him. "I know it looks impressive when Aura does that, but you shouldn't stare."

Takashi shook his head. "She brought food!" He leapt up and racing to where Aura had placing the small bundle she had brought from the MESU and rummaged around until he came out with a tin of chilli, some buns and a pack of hot-dogs. "I'll go start a fire, wanna help?" Takashi paused, having noticed the small flicker cross Aura's face and realised what was wrong. He gave her a thumbs up. "It's okay, I can get it done."

Kharis watched as Takashi gathered some twigs and made a half-hearted attempt to start a fire, then turned back to Aura. "It's okay, I'll do it in a moment. So what happened? Is something wrong?"

"I couldn't find anyone..." Aura sighed. "I guess that's not so strange, but I talked to the man in command of Captain Kirk's ship. He said the Captain shouldn't have come down to Mobius. I don't know what that's all about, but he said that it was a rule." Aura took out the communicator. "He said to keep a hold of this - it's the Captain's communicator, so if we find anything, we can tell him."

Aura paused. "I hope we do."

Why do you look like me?"

Aura was startled by this blunt question, and stared at Kharis with wide eyes. She should have known he would ask sooner or later, but wished that Spock was there. He seemed to have an aptitude for this kind of situation and Aura knew he had been sincere in his warning to her not to tell Kharis who she was, even if she didn't really understand why.

Alone and taken off guard, she shook away the persistent voice that told her she could save him and tried to think of a way to explain it that Kharis would understand. Given the numerous similarities between them, the only thing she could think of was being a distant relative, but that would raise further questions that she wasn't sure she could answer.

"I..." Aura's voice faltered and broke. "I just do?"

Kharis shook his head. "No way. The grey fur, black tipped ears and purple hair? Maybe one of those alone might make that believable, but all of them together? Sorry, I can't accept that."

"I... " Aura let her head hang down. She kept trying to let the 'distant relative' excuse come out, but it wouldn't and her resolve was quickly slipping. "I don't know..."

Half crying, half shuddering, she kept her head lowered, not wanting to face Kharis, but couldn't stop herself from raising her head and meeting his eyes - they were full of anger and frustration, so much more than she had ever seen in her life and had never before seen them aimed at her.

"Well?" Kharis demanded.

Though his eyes were younger, Aura could still see in them the same brother she had known.

She couldn't lie to him.

"You want to know why I look like you..." Trying to keep her voice steady, Aura failed miserably. "Y...y...you really want to know?! It's... It's because I am related to you!"

"What?" Kharis looked shocked. "Related to me? I didn't even know I had any cousins. Come to think of it, I didn't even know I had any aunts or uncles."

Aura shook her head. "It's not like that at all! I'm your sister!"

Kharis looked as if he had been punched in the stomach. "You're..." He breathed in, then out and tried again. "You're..."

"I'm your sister!" Aura repeated as a tear rolled down her face.

Kharis stumbled backwards as if physically struck by the words. "You can't be my sister! Mom and dad never said they had another kid and you're YOUNGER than me!"

With tears trailing down her cheeks, Aura fell to her knees and pulled her backpack off. It fell heavily to the ground and the contents spilled out, but for once she didn't care as she scrambled around in the pile of all the belongings she had in the world with Kharis watching her in silence as clothing, several books, an empty bottle of water, pencils, paper and a first-aid kit were flung either side.

Finally she pulled out a small folder only slightly larger than her outstretched hands and no thicker than her finger and held it close to her chest for several moments. Then she opened it and searched through until she found what she had been looking for, gently pulling something from the page, then closing the folder before putting everything in her backpack with a neatness born out of anxiety.

Aura stood to face Kharis.

Kharis shook his head and took another step backwards, as if the item was covered with some sort of deadly germ. "No. It can't be - You can't be my sister!"

Aura thrust the photograph towards him. "Please! Take it! Look at it!"

Kharis shook his head violently. "No. This isn't possible!"

"Please!" Aura begged, voice shaking as she dissolved into tears. "Just look at it..."

Wordlessly, Kharis took the photograph and did what she asked.

There were four figures and though he couldn't remember it being taken, he recognised himself immediately, though he looked older by at least several years. Next to him and standing in front of the house he had grown up in were his parents, his father grinning madly and his mother with one arm around her husband and the other around her son, keeping them close, both just as he remembered them from just a few months before. But there, sitting on his shoulders was a small child, maybe two or three years old with four small grey bangs hanging above vibrant green eyes, dark purple hair tied back in mismatched bunches and the same black tipped ears.

The same child that was now standing in front of him, watching him with what Kharis could tell was pain and longing.

"How can this be..." Kharis whispered, finger trailing across the photograph. "This is me, but it can't be." He looked up at Aura. "Can it?"

Aura nodded. "Y... You're my brother, Kharis, and I wish I could make you remember, but I can't because it hasn't happened yet. It's going to happen, but not yet!"

Kharis frowned, he couldn't comprehend it all. "I don't understand. Make me understand."

"I can't..." Aura told him. "I want to but I can't." Kharis was shocked when she suddenly flung herself forward and hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder. "I love you. I love you so much and I miss you so much and..." Aura's voice faltered and trailed off as she started crying again. "I..."

Kharis stood there in silence as he tried to comfort her.

"How?" He finally asked. "Tell me something, anything, just tell me."

Aura pulled away and managed to compose herself enough to get two words out. "Time travel."

"What...?"

"Time travel," Aura muttered. "I don't know how, but it happened and now I'm here, before I was born, and you're my brother, or you're gonna be my brother and...oh!" She sank to the ground and pounded it with her fists. "I don't get it! I just don't! Why did it have to happen to me!?" She looked up through the cloud of tears, looking to Kharis for some sort of support, but he was now in a world of his own, filled with possibilities he had never considered. Anxious, frustrated, slightly angry, and very nervous, Aura stood up and began pacing. "Spock was right, he said I shouldn't tell - but I missed you so much! I haven't seen you for years and..."

Coming out of his daze, Kharis ran forward, grabbing her shoulder and whirling Aura around. Seeing her panicked expression, he placed both hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want to know, if all this is true - why did you say you've not seen me for years?"

Though Aura relaxed marginally, another part of her mind was in a whirl. As bad as revealing their relationship had been, telling him why she hadn't seen him would be far worse. Now she would try to follow Spock's advice. "Remember how I told you of my power to travel to different realities" She told him, voice shaking because of her tears.

Kharis nodded.

"Well, I didn't even know I had them when I first used them. I was running away from something dangerous and just disappeared..." Aura paused "I don't know much about my powers and I haven't been able to find my way back to my time until now, but time's all messed up - I'm not sure I can return." She clenched her eyes shut. "I don't even know if I want to..."

Kharis wanted to say something, but nothing would come out of his mouth.

Takashi, on the other hand, chose that moment to pipe up with a very young, and at the same time very old, question. "Why not?"

Aura's voice cracked as she fell to her knees. "Because I don't want to live without my big brother..."

Kharis had no idea what to think and paced uneasily.

How could it be true, her being his sister? And how convenient was it that she claimed to be a time traveller, so that he might not be able to confirm or deny this claim for possibly years to come? But despite all this he heard the anguish in Aura's voice on that last statement and knew she couldn't be lying, having heard the pain that could only be wrought from great loss.

'_Without her big brother...?' _Though he wanted to know why she had said that, he would ask that question later - now was not the right time, not when Aura was in such pain already.

Kharis opened his mouth and tried again to say something to comfort Aura, but the attempt yielded the same results as it had only a moment before. Instead he took one step forward, then another and another until he was standing next to the weeping Aura. He reached one hand out to her and touched her shoulder, gently, at first, but then more firmly, then took her other shoulder as well and gently lifted her up until she was on her feet.

Aura continued to face the ground, ashamed of crying in front of them.

Kharis slowly and softly wrapped his arms around her and brought one hand up to stroke her hair, over and over, while he held her close with the other so that Aura knew the touch of her brother once more.

Aura let out a shuddering gasp.

Living on her own, providing and sheltering herself without assistance since she had left Mobius and discovered her powers, Aura had been forced to grow up long before she should have. Already used to sleeping out of doors when she had travelled around the planet with Kharis in her pre-dimensional travelling time, she didn't mind it, or object to having to find her own food, working when she had found somewhere she could fit in. Almost every single aspect of her journey had been taken in stride and often welcomed, since it proved she was succeeding, and felt that Kharis and her parents would be proud of how she coped, but the one thing she had wished for almost every night in those early days, whenever she woke up from a nightmare or was in danger was the one thing she couldn't have - and yet, here he was, holding her with the same care and compassion he had in her past and would have in his future.

He didn't have to understand, it didn't matter.

He was here now.

He cared.

Takashi, understanding this was some sort of private thing, turned back to trying to light the fire for their dinner.

As he watched them from the corner of his eye, Takashi felt a tiny prick of jealousy, wishing he had a family of his own - well, he did, he had his father, who loved and had raised him, and his father and grandfather's friends and their relatives, who he called aunt, uncle and cousin, but none of them were actually genetically related to him. Still, they cared for him more than his real family obviously had, or they wouldn't have abandoned him out in the cold mountainous regions of Elhannon.

Kharis noticed Aura leaning more and more on him.

He smiled in spite of the situation. Yes, there were still questions that he wanted to ask, so many questions and he still wasn't really sure whether or not he should believe what she said was true, but on the other hand, if it was a lie, how could the nearly identical markings both of them carried be explained away? The short answer was that this was a possible explanation, even though it was improbable and Kharis had learned that the improbable tended to be what you often found in the wild.

Aura felt tired, so tired. She had used her abilities a lot today and the short moments of rest she had managed to snatch had been disturbed.

Kharis took a seat on the soft soil beneath them.

He was careful about it, not wanting to hurt either of them and continued to hold her gently in his arms.

Soft footsteps signalled Takashi. "Is she ok?"

"Just exhausted. She said that teleporting trick takes a lot of energy and we know she's been doing it a lot. I think she just needs to rest."

Takashi nodded.

Making sure he was holding her safely, Kharis slowly stood up and walked over to the fire that Takashi had finally managed to light, but before he got too close, Takashi tugged on his shirt, explaining about Aura's anxiety about the flames, so Kharis moved a short distance away - enough to keep her warm - then placed Aura down and rolled up his jacket to put under her head.

Looking at her, he seemed to notice for the first time just how young she really was.

A sister from the future.

This had to be the strangest day of his life.


	11. In which Spock comes up with a solution

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter eleven** - In which Spock comes up with a solution.

* * *

Kirk allowed a slight groan under his breath for the first time.

McCoy had been grumbling loudly for what seemed like hours - something about foot fungus, but Kirk didn't want to waste the brain power to consider the ramifications of that term; he just wanted to get out of here, back to the _Enterprise_, to their own dimension and back to what passed for normality in his life.

"How much further?"

Kintobor sighed impatiently. "That's the fifteenth time you've asked, Captain, and the answer remains 'I don't know.' My machinery does not seem to function properly in the zone and I can only get a partial reading. At the moment I cannot tell you the exact distance, only a general direction."

"...and you!" McCoy declared suddenly, pointing a bony finger in Spock's direction. "You shouldn't have even come with us! I ought to have strapped you down and hit you over the head with a hammer!"

"That would be in direct violation of the Hippocratic oath," Spock said mildly, as he continued to pace alongside McCoy.

"Doctor, if we had not brought him with us, he would have been back where we had started." Kintobor stated calmly. "So when we find the emerald," he continued - ignoring McCoy's mutterings of _'if we ever do'_ - "we will be warped back to the planet, leaving your friend here in the zone."

"You see bones, it's perfectly logical." Kirk added with a grin.

"Oh, don't you get started on logic Jim." McCoy growled. "I thought I'd met the most technical person in the world in Spock, but this guy comes out with words I can't even pronounce, let alone understand!" McCoy turned to Kintobor. "Still, you're not as annoying as he is. Insufferable Vulcans and their blasted logic."

Kintobor chuckled. "I shall consider that a compliment, Doctor."

Kirk shook his head. "Come on Bones, Spock can annoy you without even trying."

"Damn right" McCoy snorted. "Always gettin' under my skin."

"Which is why it is useful to repress your emotions," Spock responded dispassionately. "Perhaps you might try it. For purely experimental purposes of course."

"Oh no you don't," McCoy turned around. "You're not turning me into a darn Vulcan! I prefer to get down on the ground and roll around in emotion. It's who I am."

"Unfortunately, the ground possesses any number of bacteria and viruses." Spock stated. "In essence, Doctor, you would be doing harm to yourself. Also in violation of the Hippocratic oath."

"Gentlemen!" Kirk interrupted tersely before McCoy could come back with another sarcastic comment. "Can we try to keep our focus here?"

"Focus!" McCoy snapped. "How can you focus when you're in this place!" He waved his arm indicating the terrain, and the dark green clouds drifting across a pale pink sky dotted with stars. "We're walking across bridges which aren't secured to anything, I can't see any ground below us and our means of transport disappeared just like _that_!" McCoy finished by snapping his fingers. "Even our Vulcan pain-in-the-neck would agree that isn't normal, so how are we meant to be focused!"

"Doctor" Spock began. "I fail to see how..."

McCoy sighed. "I know Spock - how can you be a pain in the neck, it ain't physically possible... yadayadayada, so how about we just keep walking, find this chunk of rock and get the hell out of here."

Without another word, he walked on.

Kirk and Kintobor stared.

Spock wondered how the Doctor could have known what he was about to say.

"Oh, and look, a fork in the road." McCoy uttered. "This day just keeps getting better and better!"

Kintobor shook his head and turned back to his device, breathing a sigh of relief a moment later as the device's static-jammed readings cleared up somewhat to reveal more clearly the direction - and possibly even the distance - of the emerald.

"This way, gentlemen." He announced, turning left.

Kirk frowned.

Spock raised an eyebrow.

McCoy grumbled.

All followed.

McCoy's annoyance was soon forgotten when he glanced back and was startled to see that the planks of the bridge were now falling, one by one into the abyss below.

He just about managed to bite back what would have been a well-timed curse.

Kirk wondered what on earth was wrong with McCoy when the doctor pushed past him.

Then he looked back and did the same.

Soon they were all running.

"What on Earth is happening?!" Kirk shouted to Kintobor, breathing raggedly as they sprinted down the length of the rapidly disappearing wooden bridge.

"I can only assume that we must be getting closer to our goal!" Kintobor shouted back. "Takashi informed me that he was confronted with some sort of obstacle involving a higher degree of risk as he neared his goal!"

"Well!" McCoy cried out, in a mixture of annoyance and exasperation as they spotted a piece of land at the end of the bridge, no more than two hundred meters away. "I certainly hope this is it!"

They should have been safe, but with less than ten meters left, Spock, whether from fatigue or just bad luck, tripped over one of the planks, uttering a small gasp of pain as he did so. Because he had been at the back of the line, none of the others tripped over him, but this meant that it was a split second before they reacted and before any of them could do anything about it, the falling planks had caught up with Spock and he tumbled, end over end into the impenetrable fog far below the bridge.

"Spock!" McCoy shouted, trying to stop but pulled forward by Kirk. "Jim, what are you doing!"

"We can't do anything, Bones!" Kirk shouted back, though the regret showed in his voice. "We need to get ourselves to safety first!"

In front of them, Kintobor gasped heavily. Though far from overweight, he was tall and well-built for his height and what part of him wasn't underweight seemed determined to drag him down.

Trying to help, Kirk gave him a violent shove and Kintobor almost lost his grip on his device, barely managing to hold onto it and stay upright at the same time as they got closer to solid ground.

Then this ceased to matter at all when the speed of the boards falling became faster than their running and they all fell into the abyss.

Seconds later they landed on something soft.

Kirk tentativelyly opened his eyes and found he was lying on top of a patch of grass and several wildflowersunfortunatelyly crushed beneath his weight.

He raised his head and looked around.

The MESU was sitting nearby and so were McCoy and Kintobor, both also opening their eyes and on realising that they were still alive, grinned and clasped each others arms as if they had been lifelong friends.

A shadow fell over Kirk.

"Captain."

"Spock!" Kirk exclaimed joyfully, accepting the help of his First Officer to stand. "You're alive!"

"Indeed." Spock replied dryly.

Looking around, Kirk was surprised to see he recognised this place - they were back on Mobius and while he didn't recognise the exact terrain, he was willing to bet that they were near the waterfall that Aura had retreated to earlier, able to hear the sound of running water in the distance.

This meant they were no longer in the warp zone, but Kirk was still surprised to see what Spock held in his hand, glowing with a reddish light. "The emerald?"

"Indeed Captain." Spock nodded, "It was within reach as I fell and since Professor Kintobor informed us that it was the key to departing the warp zone, I felt it necessary to acquire it."

Kirk grinned. "Good work, Spock."

"Where is my communicator?" McCoy grumbled, glancing over at the MESU. "Don't tell me it's in there! I wouldn't trust that thing if my life depended on it."

Kintobor pushed himself off the ground, looking mildly perturbed at the insult directed towards his invention. "Well then, Doctor, I will go and look inside for you." He walked over to the MESU and proved as good as his word, but came out empty-handed less than a minute later. "That's rather strange, I thought at least one of your communicators was inside, but it appears to be missing. So are some of my food supplies."

"It looks like somebody tried to break in - perhaps they stole them?" McCoy looked at the door, which had a strange scorch mark on the handle.

Kintobor studied it. "It would have taken somebody skilled to break through the encryption lock."

"Bones."

McCoy turned. "Yeah Jim?"

Kirk gave his medical officer a pointed look. "Why not check your medical pack?"

"Out of all the..." McCoy muttered, but nonetheless rummaged through the bag strapped over his shoulder and sure enough brought out a small, black box with the familiar antenna grid of a standard Starfleet communicator. "Oh for pete's sake! No, Spock," McCoy eyed the Vulcan. "I've no idea where that phrase came from, so don't bother asking."

"Bones, if I may?" Kirk held his hand out.

"I'm a doctor, not a bucket brigadier." McCoy muttered, handing the communicator to Kirk. "Go ahead."

Kirk flipped open the lid and twisted the frequency modulator. "Kirk to _Enterprise._"

_"By God, it's good ta hear your voice again, Captain!" _Came the voice of an obviously delighted Chief Engineer Scott._ "Where were ye? We've been scannin' the whole bloody planet tryin' ta find ye!"_

"That's rather difficult to explain, Scotty." Kirk rubbed the back of his neck. "We're safe for the moment though. Can you tell me where Aura is?"

_"The girl that had yer communicator?" _Scotty sounded confused. _"I thought she was with ye?"_

Kirk frowned. Well, that would explain his missing communicator, as well as the scorch marks on the MESU and the missing food rations. "No, Scotty, though thanks for the information. It clears up a minor mystery. You don't have any idea where she is then?"

_"Fraid not, but she's got yer communicator, so ye might wanna try that."_

"Thanks Scotty, we'll clear it up."

_"Alright Captain, but let us know when yer finished. I'd quite like to get back to ma engines."_

"Sure thing, Scotty, Kirk out." Kirk chuckled, switching off their connection before pressing several buttons.

_"H...Hello? Mr Scott?"_

"No, it's Captain Kirk."

_"Captain Kirk!" _Aura sounded surprised, but relieved. _"We were worried about you! Are you all right? Is Spock okay?"_

Kirk glanced back at Spock, who raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Spock is fine, we all are. Where are you?"

_"We're back where you arrived." _Aura replied._ "Where are..."_

Aura was suddenly cut off as he heard the sounds of the communicator being shuffled around and Kirk opened his mouth to tell them not to do that to Starfleet property, but shut it again when a frantic and younger voice came through.

_"...Dad! Are you ok? Dad?!"_

Recognising it as Takashi, Kirk rolled his eyes and passed the human the communicator, who then began trying to reassure his adopted son that he was indeed fine.

As they discussed various things, including the newly discovered emerald, Kirk and McCoy ganged up on Spock.

"Aura seemed quite worried about you." McCoy grinned.

Spock gave no sign of rising to the bait that McCoy dangled. "As she was in need of my help at various times during our time here on Mobius, I offered aid. I consider it logical that she would in turn be concerned for my own well being."

McCoy nodded. "Still, it sounds like she counts you as a good friend."

"From what I sensed in the meld, it would seem that she has not met many people she would consider as such."

"Really?"

"Indeed." Spock nodded. "Aura has been travelling for several years now and has found many places quite inhospitable towards her."

"Well Spock," McCoy nodded. "If Aura counts you as a close friend, you certainly fulfil the expectations."

Spock, in response, merely inclined his head.

Kintobor came back over, holding the communicator, which he passed to Kirk. "Captain, Takashi would like to speak with you."

"He knows what!?" Kirk muttered angrily seconds later, spending several moments trying not to read Takashi the Riot Act and failing before shutting it off and turning back to his crew-mates and their human scientist companion. "Aura told Kharis."

Spock nodded. "I was afraid of this, we must find them immediately."

"That shouldn't be difficult." Kintobor replied. "We have the MESU and the co-ordinates for where we need to be. The distance is also far shorter than where you first encountered us, a mere 21.5 miles in Earth terms. It should not take more than fifteen to twenty minutes."

"Not that thing again!" McCoy cried. "I said I wouldn't trust my life to that thing, Jim, and I mean that!"

"Well too bad Bones, because I am." Kirk tersely responded. "So get in."

"Would you prefer the transporter, Doctor?"

Scowling, McCoy sent Spock a sharp glare as they entered the MESU.

"Why, if I may ask, are you so concerned about finding them?" Kintobor asked as he confirmed the co-ordinates and set the MESU in motion. "Surely they are in no real danger."

"Well, you see..." Kirk started.

"Captain, if I may?"

Kirk nodded.

Spock turned to Kintobor. "The girl, Aura, is a time traveller, through an unintentional connection to the warp drive of the Enterprise and use of her teleportation ability. She is related to the boy, Kharis and we wished to avoid any damage to the timeline by informing him of this fact since his future and Aura's present would be altered. However, since Aura has told Kharis, we must take action whilst we can."

Kintobor took a few moments to digest this information. "What, precisely, are our options?"

"Most would make at least some change in the timeline." Spock replied. "To ensure the least probability of this, our most viable option would be to erase Kharis' memories of everything that has happened today, which would include any memories of Aura."

Kintobor looked extremely confused. "How, pray tell, would you do that?"

Spock looked as Vulcan-like as possible. "I believe that I would be able to take the information from his mind through a meld."

Kintobor still looked confused. "I'm afraid still do not quite understand..."

"A Vulcan mind-meld is the fusion of two minds, usually both Vulcan." Spock explained. "I have, however, joined with many that are not Vulcan, including both Kharis and Aura and believe that I can use the same technique to extract the information from Kharis' mind. I would have to do the same for you as well."

Startled, Kintobor looked to McCoy. "Isn't there some other way? What about memory drugs?"

McCoy shook his head. "Memory drugs work on species we've categorised, but Aura, Kharis and Takashi all have biology's I couldn't even begin to understand and since your genetic code has been changed as well I don't know how effective they'd be." McCoy sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, Spock's idea is probably the best one."

"Thank you, Doctor McCoy."

"Yeah, yeah..." McCoy muttered. "Don't think I like the idea of you mind-melding though, something always seems to go wrong when you do."

Spock's left eyebrow raised. "Then I should be glad of your presence."

"Yeah, well I won't be."

"Wrong?" Kintobor frowned. "What could go wrong?"

This time, McCoy interrupted Spock. "I've been present for quite a few times he's melded with other creatures. It takes a lot of energy and doing more than one in a short time could be dangerous."

"I can assure you, Doctor, that erasing the information from their minds will be, as you humans say, 'easy as pie'."

Before McCoy could respond to Spock's rare use of archaic human vernacular, Kirk jumped in. "All right Spock, so you wipe their minds. Let's just find them and do this before anything else happens."

"Ditto." McCoy echoed.

Kintobor snorted. "You all make it sound so simple. Do you go around saving timelines every day?"

The three Enterprise officers turned and stared at Kintobor.

He, wisely, didn't say anything else.

* * *

"That wasn't very nice snatching the communicator off me." Aura complained to Takashi, still slightly groggy from being woken up by the sound of the device.

"I needed to know my dad was okay!" Takashi shot back. "I thought he was gone, you don't know what that's like! Your brother is right here!"

Aura turned away and shut her eyes.

She could still remember the hot feeling of the fire in her house and the dread that had filled her heart when Kharis had fallen - her parents, her brother, her family, all gone, forever.

Takashi had only felt that fear for a short time and Aura wanted to tell him everything, because as long as he didn't know what was going to happen to Kharis, he couldn't understand why she was so upset, but she knew she had already given away far too much - and wasn't looking forward to what Captain Kirk had to say about that - so instead she took several deep breaths, reminded herself that Takashi didn't and couldn't know about her past - his future - and turned around, trying to smile. "I'm sorry, I forgot how worried you were."

"Me? Worried?" Takashi smirked. "No way!"

"Sure you weren't." Aura shot back.

"Okay, maybe a little." Takashi admitted.

"Guess we won't need the emeralds after all." Aura looked over at the recharging gems, trying to repress a shudder.

"They found an emerald in the warp zone." Takashi remembered.

"Really?" Aura turned to Kharis. "Did you hear that?"

Kharis was looking at the photograph again and closing his eyes, tapped it against his forehead. "How can this be? How can this be me?"

Aura stepped over and placed a hand on his arm. "Kharis?"

Kharis' head rose and he faced her, but his eyes were distant.

Aura tried to smile. "It'll be okay."

Kharis found little consolation in that statement. "So, what will you do now?" He finally asked, managing to find his voice. "I mean, you're here in the past, so will you stay here or go back to your own time?"

"I don't know." Aura lied. She had no idea where she was going, but knew that it wouldn't be either of the choices that Kharis had mentioned. Staying here, she would be tormented by knowing her family was going to die - not to mention how difficult it would be to make a new identity - and going back to her own time, even if she could, would mean returning to a place she could belong, but had no longing for. "I tried to get back and ended up in the past." Another lie, but she had to let him believe there was a reason for their separation in the future that didn't involve his death. "I guess I'll keep travelling until I find a way back."

Wherever she was going, it wouldn't be Mobius, not now, not ever.

Kharis nodded. "So what now?"

Aura shrugged. "I guess we wait."

"Okay." Kharis was at a loss. "Shall I get the cards?"

"If you want..." Aura paused. "Kharis?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you tell me about your childhood?"

Surprised, Kharis found himself staring. "Why?"

"You'll think it's silly." Aura stared at her feet.

Impulsively, Kharis reached out and touched Aura's shoulder.

Aura looked up at him.

"No, I won't, I promise."

"You used to tell me stories about when you were a child." Aura confessed. "I miss them."

"Um, well I..." Kharis felt lost for words again. Obviously he and Aura would be close when she was born, despite their age gap, but his mind was still whirling from everything he had already heard and it took him a moment to get his bearings. "Sure."

As he motioned for Aura to sit down, Takashi, who wasn't that bothered about hearing a story that had nothing to do with him and sensing it wasn't really his place to listen, so went to his bag and dug out his portable video game and earphones then sat down to play it.

"I guess I'll tell you about this time I got in trouble when I was at school." Kharis began, dealing out the cards as he spoke. "I must have been about ten and a pretty good student, but my friends were always finding ways to get into trouble and usually dragged me along with them. It was never anything really big though," Kharis paused, obviously not wanting to give Aura the impression he had been some sort of criminal. "Just childish pranks really. Mom and dad understood, but they couldn't really do anything about it, only bail me out each time."

Aura nodded.

"I loved writing, still do and one day we were writing a poem in class when one of my friends threw a huge paper-wad totally covered in tape. It stuck to my fur and everyone laughed as I pulled it off. I was humiliated." Kharis paused and chuckled. "I pulled it off and looked around, everyone was still laughing, so I threw it at my friend but hit the teacher instead. She turned around, quick as lightning and demanded to know who did it, so I stood up and confessed, then told her she could now punish me for something I'd done.

"What did she do?"

"She was really surprised, I guess because I wasn't the kind of person to do that, but she punished me. Made me clean the classroom every day for a week." Kharis looked at Aura. "Did you get in trouble at school?"

"Not really." Aura shook her head. "I was only there for a few years before I found these powers and I was short for my age, so the teachers all thought I was 'cute' and the other kids picked on me because of that." She smiled. "But I always had somebody to help me."

Kharis was pretty sure he knew who that someone was and smiled.

Aura's story, as implausible as it had sounded at first was getting more and more believable as they continued to talk and she mentioned things about their parents and Kharis himself that he knew somebody outside their family wouldn't know or understand, little jokes and stories that they laughed over.

"I'd always kinda wondered what it would be like to be a big brother to someone, to have a little brother or sister that I could play with, talk to and go on trips with, but I've been an only child all my life." Kharis grinned. "I guess I won't be soon."

"I warn you." Aura teased. "I can be a handful at times, you've said so yourself."

"Well, I have advance warning then." Kharis smirked. "I can prepare now."

Aura nodded.

"So..." Kharis said, after a few moments of silence. "If you're my sister, where did you get those powers from?"

Aura shook her head. "I don't know, they just kinda appeared. I never really tried to find out."

"Well, that Captain has a spaceship, right? Maybe they have some sort of gadget that could help you?"

Aura smiled ruefully. "I think they already tried."

"Oh." Kharis paused. "So, apart from the dimensional travelling thing and that lightning, do you have any other powers?"

"None that I know of..." Aura said, voice trailing off as a steady beeping noise came from Takashi's backpack, but absorbed in his video game, he didn't hear it, so Aura walked across and tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump up and give her a glare before taking off his earphones and digging out the communicator.

"Yeah?"

_"Takashi, this is Captain Kirk. We're almost at your position and Spock needs to talk to all of you when we get there, but we're planning to depart the area shortly, so gather whatever possessions you've got."_

Takashi nodded, then belatedly remembered that Kirk couldn't see him. "Right."

_"Kirk out."_

Takashi turned it off and looked around - Kharis looked confused, but relatively calm, but Aura's face was filled with worry. Takashi wasn't quite sure why, but he figured it had a lot to do with her telling Kharis that she was his sister, especially if she hadn't been born yet.

Wierd.

"So you're gonna leave soon?"

Aura looked at Takashi and nodded. "Yeah, it'd be a bit confusing to stay here when I'll just be born in a year or two."

Watching Aura pack her things away, Takashi picked up the pack of playing cards they had been using earlier and tapped on her arm. "Here. You'll remember us when you play this."

Aura smiled, touched by this small gesture. "Thanks."

Takashi grinned. "No problem, I can always make another set with dad. So where are you gonna go next?"

Aura shrugged. "I don't know. I usually let my powers just take me somewhere because I can't control where I end up, so every time I travel it's somewhere new."

"Sounds fun." Kharis commented from beside her.

About to reply, Aura paused as a faint droning sound reached them and turned in the direction of the noise to see the MESU approaching them through the trees. She swallowed nervously. "I'm in trouble now."

Kharis frowned. "Why?"

Aura pursed her lips. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that I'm your sister. Well... will be your sister." Aura added. "Since I've told you, it could disrupt the future and I don't know what they can do to stop that from happening, not unless they've got a miracle up their sleeve."

Takashi grinned. "If they can catch a chaos emerald on their own they've probably got a thousand miracles up their sleeve."

"I hope so..."

"Don't worry," Kharis smiled. "If things get really bad, I'll go and get mom and dad."

Aura chuckled. "I wonder how they would take it."

Kharis looked wistful. "Well, mom and dad always wanted another kid, so I think they'd be ecstatic."

Finally - after what seemed like an eternity to Aura - the MESU stopped a few feet away and a few seconds later the door slid open and Kirk, followed by McCoy, Spock and Kintobor came out.

Kintobor smiled at Takashi, who ran up to his father and began shouting a barrage of questions at him, but Kirk frowned at Aura, who swallowed nervously.

"Miss Starfire." Kirk began tersely. "I, for one, am disappointed that you were unable to control yourself. You are fortunate that the situation can still be rectified and that..."

"Captain." Spock interjected. "I feel I must point out something."

Kirk turned to face his First Officer. "What would that be, Mr Spock?"

"Aura is not part of the Federation, much less Starfleet. Thus she is not subject to Federation law and is subject to alter history as she sees fit."

"That," Kirk said slowly. "Is a dangerous power to wield, especially in the hands of a child. The fact of the matter, Spock, is that she was a guest aboard my ship, which was then unavoidably transported through time, space and even dimensions to a point this planet has already seen, as far as Aura is concerned."

Spock showed no signs of being offended by Kirk's obvious anger. "Do you feel responsible to maintain the timeline that Mobius has seen, from your perspective?"

Kirk frowned. "What's going on here, Spock? What's gotten into you?"

McCoy muttered something under his breath.

"What has 'gotten into me', Captain, is the logical determination that by maintaining the timeline we have seen, we would once again be in violation of the Prime Directive."

Kirk folded his arms. "How do you justify that?"

"Simply, Captain, that as we are not inhabitants of the planet, any intervention, whether in maintaining or changing the timeline, would be a violation of the directive."

"As an old saying goes, Jim," McCoy interjected. "You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."

Kirk threw up his hands. "I'm being attacked on all sides!"

"Um... Captain Kirk, sir?"

Kirk looked down at Aura. "Yes?"

"I'm really really sorry for what I did, it's just that I haven't seen my brother or anyone I can really trust for a long time." Kirk opened his mouth to speak, but Aura didn't let him. "I know it doesn't make what I did right, but how would you feel it you hadn't seen anyone you knew for almost three years?"

Kirk suddenly found himself recalling the incident with the Tholians - the isolation he had felt in his spacesuit, feeling as if he were nowhere and everywhere, utterly alone and beyond help, yet almost within reach of it and wondered what that would have been like on an extended basis - or as long as Aura had been travelling.

"That be as it may," Kirk finally responded. "We still need a solution."

"Captain, I have a suggestion."

"I'm all ears, Spock." Kirk nodded. "No pun intended of course."

"Indeed Captain." Spock clasped both hands behind his back. "Aura came in contact with us first, however accidentally and therefore she initiated first contact, but realigning the timeline to allow the events that she has already witnessed to take place would be a clear violation, not only of the Prime Directive, but also the Temporal Prime Directive. Therefore, I propose we allow this timeline to continue and at the same time, re-align it."

Kirk frowned, there was something not quite right with what Spock was saying, but he trusted his First Officer to make the right decision. "How, precisely, are we to do that?"

"By erasing the memories of Kharis and Professor Kintobor, but not Takashi."

"Why not?" Takashi asked.

"Yes, why?" Kintobor looked to Spock for an answer.

"It is necessary to erase Kharis' memories because of the danger that the knowledge he currently has to change the future. It would not make any logical sense to erase Aura's memories, since she is not part of this current timeline and will require the recollection of these events if she is to return us to our own universe. Takashi, however, is not in the same predicament as Kharis would be in and it is safe to leave his memories untouched, so long as he does not reveal these events to anybody."

"You can trust me!" Takashi nodded vigorously. "I'm good at keeping secrets."

Again, Kirk had that sense that Spock was deliberately withholding information, but said nothing.

"Why, then, do you need to erase my memories?" Kintobor asked. "I can assure you that you can place in me the same trust that you do in my son."

Spock knew he could not explain that in the future Kintobor would become a tyrannical dictator, though not of his own choosing, and that the knowledge he possessed of time-travel and dimensional travel could be dangerous, but his Vulcan upbringing forbade him to dispense a bald-faced lie, however logical it might be, but Kirk had no such inhibitions when it was necessary to do so, so Spock looked to him for help.

Kirk understood the glance and turned to Kintobor. "If you remembered this, your research would turn away from the chaos emeralds at a time when it is crucial that you discover their secrets. You would start looking into temporal mechanics and wouldn't get very far before driving yourself insane with theories on time paradox."

Kintobor flushed. "Um, well yes, I suppose that would be a good reason."

Kirk nodded re-assuredly. "Don't worry, when Spock erases your memory your ideas for research will remain fully intact."

"I must admit that to be my greatest concern." Kintobor nodded. "It is safe then?"

"Yes." Spock assured him. "However, Captain, it would be best if we beamed up to the ship for the duration of the meld, as it would then be possible to beam them back to where they were originally."

"Plus I can run some tests on both of you." McCoy pointed at Aura and Spock.

€"Tests?" Aura whispered to Spock. "I don't need any more tests."

"I would suggest you do not try to escape." Spock replied. "The doctor can be extremely irritable when he is contradicted."

Aura fell silent, hoping that McCoy wasn't going to do anything unnecessary - he did only seem to want to help and she did trust him, but there was still that small pit of anxiety and fear in her stomach that came whenever she was around doctors, so she looked away from him and at Kirk, who was now talking to Kintobor. Aura's brow furrowed - why didn't she hate him? Usually she hated any figures of authority, prone as they were to trying to control what she did and Kirk had certainly done everything he could to stop her, then shouted at her when this had failed, which made it all the more puzzling that she agreed with his plan, even though it meant letting Kharis die.

Except there was the fact that what Spock had said made sense - trying to save Kharis would still doom him.

Aura swallowed.

Kirk turned to McCoy. "Now Bones, I know you don't like using the transporter..."

"...but it's the fastest way to get there, yeah, I know." McCoy muttered. "Let's just get it over with."

Kirk pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. "Kirk to _Enterprise."_

_"Scott here."_

"Seven to beam up."

_"Seven, Captain?"_

"I'll explain when we get there Scotty." Kirk told the Chief Engineer with a wry grin at the thought of his reaction to the three Mobians and Kintobor materialising on the Enterprise.

_"Aye sir. Just give me a second to lock onto ya." _The sound of buttons being pressed could be heard in the background for several seconds._ "We're all locked on now sir, ready to beam ya up."_

"Alright Mr Scott, beam us up."

* * *

**Authors note: **Only another three chapters and an epilogue to go! I hope everyone is enjoying this story, even though as of yet there are no reviews. Still, it doesn't mean that there isn't anybody _reading_ it - and I'm not going to be one of those people who begs for a review, but if you were to leave one, I would be very grateful.


	12. In which a plan is set into motion

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter twelve** - In which a plan is set into motion

* * *

Kirk, McCoy and Spock all knew the feeling of being transported - though McCoy tended to make it clear how much he disliked the method they used to get to and from a planet surface. Aura was a little phased - this being the first time she had been conscious when using the transporter - but it reminded her a lot of her own teleportation ability, while Takashi thought it was a lot like getting to the warp zone, except a lot quicker, easier and boring and Kharis took it in his stride, figuring he had seen enough weird stuff that day.

Kintobor, on the other hand, was evidently amazed and confounded by the sensation and when they materialised in the transporter room, he looked positively ecstatic.

"Amazing! This is very similar to my own method of travel to Mobius." Kintobor paused, rubbing the back of his neck. "Except much more comfortable - my own attempt resulted in a concussion, three fractured ribs and third-degree burns." He looked at Spock. "Please, tell me, how is this possible?"

"Essentially, your entire body is scanned to the molecular level, compressed into a data stream at the quantum level and locked onto with a specialised data reader. Then the data stream enters the transporter buffer and is then extracted by reversing the process by the utilisation of these transported pads." Spock explained.

"Astounding!" Kintobor enthused. "The transportation of people using molecular methods. I do wish I was able to explore this further, it is a great pity that I shall not be able to do so."

"Wait, you mean you actually understood what Spock said?" McCoy stared. "I never thought I'd see the day."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Doctor McCoy, I believe that you have seen the day on many occurrences."

McCoy grumbled. "Shut up Spock."

"Perhaps you will discover this on your own, Professor." Kirk smiled. "After all, from what we have seen down on Mobius you are a gifted scientist."

"Thank you Captain." Kintobor flushed with praise. "I shall hope to do so."

"That was so cool!" Takashi exclaimed. "Can we do it again?"

McCoy scoffed. "If I ever do it again kid, it'll be too soon."

Kirk allowed a grin at this comment, but elected not to respond to Takashi's query, instead directing the troupe to Sickbay where McCoy quickly directed Kharis and Kintobor to individual biobeds and administered sedatives to each.

McCoy looked up at Spock. "Well, it's up to you now. They won't wake up for a while, I can promise that."

"Thank you Doctor." Spock made his way over to Kharis and placed both hands on each side of his face in order to help the initiation of the meld.

McCoy turned to Aura. "Alright, I can't check him over at the moment, but I can look at you. Hop up onto a bed."

Aura didn't look pleased. "I feel fine, really."

"Look kid," McCoy sighed. "You've not been well and you've been through a lot today, so I'll feel a lot better when I've made sure nothing's wrong."

Aura nodded, though with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. "I don't like doctors, they always make me think that something is wrong with me."

McCoy could sympathise with that. "Yeah, I understand kid, but that's not the only reason doctors exist. They're also there to make sure that you stay okay. They want to help you. I want to help you."

Aura shook her head. "I know they want to help me, but I guess it's just that pretty much all the doctors I've met since leaving home never really understood me or just treated me badly 'cause I wasn't their species. Even if they could understand me, most of them never even asked me about myself, just treated me like I wasn't important." Aura shivered as a memory ghosted across her mind. "Plus the last time I was in a hospital really scared me."

Noticing Aura had admitted this last part reluctantly, McCoy motioned to another biobed. "Well then, since I don't have any sort of medical history, I need to know anything important, and that sounds like it might be."

Aura was trembling slightly as she sat down and pulled at her jumper, which had several holes in. "Like I said, I was in hospital before, back home. I was eight and had what I guess you'd call pneumonia. Kharis and I were... I mean, when he was older, so I was younger and I, well, um..."

"I understand, when you were a kid, right?"

Aura nodded. "We were travelling and I got sick in a storm. I was in hospital for almost two weeks. I've been ill a few times since I left home too, like when I had this human illness on another Earth where I leant to speak your language, but that wasn't as bad."

McCoy tried to reassure Aura. "All right then, that should be enough. No allergies?"

Aura shook her head.

"Okay." McCoy picked up a scanning device. "Now this might take a little while, but I guarantee you won't feel a thing."

Aura laughed nervously. "Every time I've heard a doctor say that, whatever it was that they said wouldn't hurt ended up hurting really bad."

"Well, I'll be damned if I'm wrong." McCoy proclaimed, activating his scanner.

Aura closed her eyes and tried to relax, but her muscles stayed tensed and she kept her eyes clenched tightly shut against the invisible - and thankfully intangible - fingers of the scanning device, but McCoy proved to be as good as his word and she didn't feel anything at all.

"Alright," McCoy murmured. "No internal injuries. Your electrolytes are down, so I'm guessing you used those strange powers again. Slight exhaustion..."

"You can tell all that with that box?" Aura asked, opening her eyes as her curiosity took over.

"It's a medscanner, not a box."

"Looks like a box to me." Aura muttered.

"Hmm..." McCoy examined the readouts as they appeared above the screen of the biobed. "Everything seems to look alright, but then again I'm hardly an expert at your biology. Still, there doesn't appear to be any infections or rampaging sicknesses, so I'd say you've recovered from that fever. Just slight dehydration and that's easily handled with lots of water." He looked down at Aura. "You appear to be as healthy as a... well, as a fox."

Aura shrugged, hopping off the biobed. "I told you there wasn't anything wrong with me."

McCoy shook his head, turning off the scanner and made his way across to the replicator and ordering a glass of water which he passed to Aura.

"Thank you." Aura took it and downed it on one swallow.

McCoy chuckled as the doors to Sickbay lightly hissed as they opened. "Ah, Chris, come on over here, you can help me out with these scans. Double-check Aura's scans - the girl over here - and make sure she doesn't have anything wrong with her."

Christine Chapel nodded. "Of course, Doctor."

Aura's face fell. "Does that mean you're going to scan me again?"

McCoy shook his head. "No, she's just looking over the scans I already took. I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything."

Aura looked relieved as Christine made her way to the biobed and checked through the scans twice to make sure, then turned back to McCoy. "Nothing seriously wrong, Doctor McCoy."

McCoy nodded and went to talk to Kirk.

Christine looked at Aura out of the corner of her eye and noticing she seemed nervous decided to talk to her. "This has been an eventful day for you, hasn't it."

"Yeah, it has." Aura was grateful, knowing what the head nurse was trying to do, but her thoughts still kept turning to Spock and Kharis, who were still in the meld and she wished that Spock could get it over with quickly, so she didn't have to watch as her own brother forgot who she was. Shaking her head to try and stop thinking about it, Aura concentrated on the fact that the nurse was also sneaking glances at them, though she seemed more focused on Spock. "...you like him, don't you? Spock, I mean, not my brother."

Christine blushed.

"No, no, it's okay!" Aura paused. "Truth is, well, I kinda like him too."

Christine smiled awkwardly. "I guess he's just a likeable person."

Aura nodded. "Yeah, we share something special."

Christine raised her eyebrows in such a good impression of Spock that it almost made Aura laugh. "Oh, really? He must have made quite an impression on you."

Aura looked over at Spock. "He did."

"Looks like you have a rival for your affections, Chris." McCoy called over, grinning.

"I don't like him that way!" Aura protested. "He just helped me, that's all."

Nearby, Kirk smiled. _'She may have travelled alone, but deep down Aura is still an ordinary kid at heart.'_

Deeply in the meld, Spock heard none of this. He had already seen many memories from Kharis' young and untrained mind and tread carefully as he searched for those he needed to erase, knowing it would be catastrophic if Kharis were to forget anything else, which would be as harmful to the timeline as leaving his mind untouched.

Because of this, Spock had decided to group the memories in chronological order and this was where the delay had come in as he scoured Kharis' mind methodically, taking what he needed and placing it in his short-term memory, which since it would not transmit to his long-term memory, ensured that Kharis would never know.

He pulled away from Kharis a few moments later, breaking contact with a shuddering breath that had Kirk springing up from his seat and McCoy rushing over, tricorder in hand.

Aura stepped over to the bed and watched Kharis sleep, a sad smile on her face.

For a short while she'd had her brother back again, but now he was going to leave her and would forget everything that had happened, but Aura would remember him, both as the kind brother she had always known and now as the caring friend he had shown himself as being on their adventure and she hoped this would help her as she continued travelling. Coming back to Mobius had been an accident and while meeting Kharis had helped her to finally accept his death, her feelings on the place that had once been home hadn't changed.

After all, what was there to gain from returning? No family, no friends, no home - she would be put in a foster home because she was still under fourteen - and at least with travelling she had the freedom to go wherever she wanted and do whatever she wanted, something that Aura was sure that now, more than ever, Kharis would have wanted for her.

She rubbed away the tears trailing down her face as she heard footsteps behind her. "I'm glad I got to see him again, but I guess even good things have to end."

"Indeed they must." Spock nodded. "I am afraid it is time to return your brother to the planet surface."

Kirk patted Aura on the shoulder. "Tell you what, I'll help you take him back down. It's the least I can do."

Aura looked up at Kirk. She still wasn't sure what to make of him - at times he was tense and authoritative, but now he was being kind and compassionate. Aura put it down to the unpredictable nature of his species, suppressing a shiver at some of the worst humans she had met and nodding instead. "I'd like that."

"Good." Kirk turned to McCoy. "Is Kharis safe for transporter travel?"

McCoy looked at the readings above the biobed. "He's ready to go, Jim."

Kirk nodded, then frowned. "Unfortunately, though, we do have a problem - we don't have any co-ordinates. We've got them for when we need to take Takashi and Kintobor back, but not for Kharis, since Spock didn't have a communicator when he disappeared."

"I'll take him." Aura interjected. "I know where it is."

"You were not conscious at the time." Spock reminded her.

"I mean roughly." Aura added.

"Are you sure?" Kirk asked.

Aura nodded. "I teleported an entire ship full of people, I can do this. I just need a quick boost of power."

"Alright." Kirk nodded, directing her over to a nearby console and watched as Aura absorbed energy from one of Sickbay's less used and important machines. "But I'm coming as well, just in case something goes wrong so we can use the transporter to return to the _Enterprise_."

"Okay." Aura took Kharis and Kirk's hand, then closed her eyes and concentrated on the forest and the wooden shack.

They vanished in a burst of light.

Spock turned back to the biobeds and prepared himself to perform the meld with Kintobor.

McCoy frowned. "Are you sure you can do this so soon after melding with the kid?"

"The sedatives will not last forever, Doctor." Spock pointed out, sitting in the chair that McCoy had placed there and put his hands on Kintobor's head, soon deeply in the meld.

Takashi watched this all in awe.

It was a really good job he could keep secrets.

* * *

A small flash illuminated the forest clearing, now bathed in the breathtaking light of dusk, the sky a shade of orange with a trace of lavender.

It had been many hours since Aura had been there, the sun then high in the sky, but now it was faint and she could see the shadow of a moon through a gap in the trees.

She looked at Kirk and smiled faintly. "Maybe I'll come back someday - to my own time, I mean. I don't want to live on Mobius, but I do miss a lot of things about it sometimes."

"Then take something with you. A leaf, maybe." Kirk nodded. "Remember that I can't do that, but you can. As for going back, the time will come and you'll know when it does."

Aura wasn't sure about that, but walked across to a tree that was just beginning to lose it's leaves, several of which fell as she stood under it, trying to choose which of those on the ground she wanted.

Then she felt something brush against her ear and looked to see a deep red leaf fall into her hands.

Almost as if it were fate.

Kneeling down and opening her backpack, Aura pulled out a book, worn from being read many times and placed the leaf inside. Then she returned the book and rested her hand briefly on her necklace, which Kharis had pushed into her hands before he had died. Now she had another thing to remember him by and while Aura knew that objects weren't the same as having the person you cared about right there with you, Aura had always imagined she could hear Kharis talking to her when she had touched the necklace, just as if he had been walking beside her.

She walked back over to Kirk, who had propped Kharis up against a tree so that he looked as if he had just fallen asleep after a long day of travelling.

"He looks so peaceful." Aura murmured. "He doesn't know what's going to happen to him - I didn't tell him. I wanted to, but I didn't. It would have scared him and I didn't want to do that." She swallowed. "Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't seen him again, it just got my hopes up and put the entire timeline at risk, like Spock said. Nothing good came out of this whole thing."

Kirk shook his head. "It gave you hope and you can't survive without that. Keep your faith, you might find yourself rewarded."

"I guess so." Aura smiled. "Thank you, Captain Kirk."

"No problem." Kirk returned the smile. "Now, do you think you can get us back to the _Enterprise_, or should I get the transporter to take us back?"

"I can do it." Aura assured him. "It's a lot easier teleporting just one other person."

"Wait a moment, was this the first time you've transported other people?" Kirk asked suspiciously.

"No." Aura replied. "I've just never done it with more than one person before and..."

"Yet you still took the risk!?" Kirk cut her off. "What were you thinking?"

"I had to! I wanted to help everyone and it's my fault this happened." Aura fixed Kirk with an icy stare. "My parents and Kharis taught me to take responsibility for my actions, which is what I'm doing!"

Kirk tried to calm down and look at it logically, as Spock would have done. "Well, you've transported other objects with you, so I suppose it wouldn't have been much of a stretch to take people as well - and you did transport everyone on the _Enterprise_, though you weren't aware of it at the time and did have the power of the warp drive, so you're certainly capable of it..."

Aura held out her hand. "I am. So can you trust me again, Captain Kirk?"

Kirk paused, then took her hand firmly into his own.

A few minutes after they vanished, Kharis began to stir as the effects of the sedative wore off.

He looked around, rubbing the back of his head as he tried to remember going to sleep here, but shook his head and figured he must have been so tired he had literally stumbled through the forest after getting directions earlier. Seeing the warm glow of sunset through the trees, Kharis reached into his backpack for a camera and his journal, but found only one.

Blinking in confusion, Kharis wondered whether it had anything to do with the dream he couldn't quite remember.

Then he dismissed it and hoisting his rucksack on, began walking through the forest.

* * *

Back on the _Enterprise_, Spock had carefully grouped together Kintobor's memories.

Because he would now have another chaos emerald in his possession, it would be up to Takashi to explain to his father where it had come from, but Spock had no doubt that the child could do this. He was also intrigued by the human's theories and regretting that they would not be able to spend more time comparing notes, but knew that the _Enterprise_ could not remain in this dimension forever and that with each passing second they ran the risk of violating countless protocols.

They had already broken many, of course, but Spock wanted to avoid another court-marshal, having been through more than he wished - though most had been against the Captain - remembering the first court-martial he had experienced in which the incident with Captain Pike and the Talosians had come to light, where by trying to protest Captain Pike by not saying anything, Spock had come extremely close to ending his career.

Erasing Kintobor's memories was simple and it wasn't long before Spock broke the connection and began drifting back to the conscious world.

Adamant not to give Doctor McCoy the satisfaction of knowing that the melds had fatigued him - having already been through his long-winded complaints about his health more than once today - Spock pulled away from the meld, got to his feet and moved to the food dispenser to order a beverage. It effectively forestalled McCoy's inevitable comment, but the doctor still looked triumphantly at Spock as he finished his drink.

"Guess we won't be seeing you guys again." McCoy said to Takashi. "That's a shame."

Takashi nodded. "Yeah, but maybe you'll come back someday."

_'Not likely'_, McCoy thought.

Aura and Kirk appeared moments later.

Kirk looked towards Spock. "All finished?"

"Yes, Captain." Spock replied. "Professor Kintobor and Takashi can be beamed down to the planet surface at any time."

"Good." Kirk made his way across to the communications console and relayed the transporter room to load the co-ordinates from the location where he and McCoy had beamed down to into the transporter, then contacted the bridge and relaying to Scotty that he would be making one last trip down to the planet before relieving him of duty. Then he turned to Takashi as McCoy and Christine Chapel prepared a gurney to take Kintobor to the transporter room. "Ready to go?"

Takashi grinned. "Yep, this was a great adventure though, wish it didn't have to end."

_'This is probably the last adventure you're going to have' _Aura thought sadly.

Kirk smiled at Takashi. "Come on, I'll make sure you get down there in one piece."

"Weren't you just down there?"

Kirk shrugged. "At this point, it might be worth taking one last trip. Mobius is a beautiful planet."

* * *

When they materialised in the frozen north with the MESU, Takashi scratched himself all over.

Kirk chuckled. "The transporter removes dead material automatically, so any dead skin cells you had were removed, which is why you might feel a bit raw."

Takashi grimaced. "Gross! Maybe you people can make something better."

"We're used to it."

"How am I gonna explain what happened?" Takashi wondered. "I mean, we've got two more emeralds and dad wouldn't be happy if I went after one without telling him." After a few moments, his face lit up. "I know! I could say he hit his head when we were searching for the emerald and there was another one with it."

"That's a good idea." Kirk knelt down. "Now, Takashi, it's very important that you don't tell him about what really happened, okay?"

Takashi frowned. "I know, but he's my dad. I don't like keeping secrets from him."

"I understand, but this is more important than you can imagine. I need you to do this, not just for his benefit, but that of the entire planet."

Takashi looked up at Kirk. "You mean, I'd have to be like a superhero?"

Kirk thought about this. "Yes, like a superhero. Keep this secret and you'll save the world, just like Aura did when she let Spock erase the memories of her brother because it could disrupt the timeline."

Takashi grinned. "Okay!"

After making sure Kintobor was still comfortable on one of the pull-out beds inside the MESU, they stepped outside, where Kirk flipped open his communicator. "Kirk to _Enterprise_."

_"Yes, Captain?"_

"One to beam up."

_"Yes sir."_

As Kirk disappeared in a shimmering gold column of light, Takashi looked at the space where the man had just been, then shrugged and went back into the MESU.


	13. In which the Enterprise is returned

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Chapter thirteen** - In which the _Enterprise_ is returned to it's rightful place.

* * *

Aura looked around Sickbay.

The last day - and not even a full day - had been the second-worst of her life, after the day her brother had been killed and like then she wanted to pretend that it had all been a dream. That none of it had happened and she was still recovering in the Sickbay of the _Enterprise_, that she was nowhere near Mobius - or even in the same dimension - but pretending hadn't worked then and it wouldn't work now. It hadn't stopped the grief or the tears, held back now because she didn't want Spock or Doctor McCoy to see them.

The only thing that had made this all worthwhile was that now her her last memory of Kharis would be of him smiling at her, instead of seeing his eyes filled with pain as they had drifted shut, lying against the brick wall of their street with the sounds of laser fire going on around them. It was a bittersweet victory, but one that left her feeling better than she thought she would have after losing him.

Again.

Swallowing to try and compose herself, Aura turned around and looked up at Spock. "We have to go now, don't we?"

"Yes." Spock nodded. "Do you believe that you will be able to return the ship and crew to our universe?"

"...I don't know." Aura was suddenly unsure. "I mean, I know I brought everyone here, but I've never tried to go back to a place I've been to before."

"That is a false statement, since you have been able to return here."

"I know, but what good did that do?" Aura muttered, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm here before I'm meant to be born! What if I try to take you back and you all get stuck where you don't belong?"

"Miss Starfire, please compose yourself. There is little use in dwelling on hypotheticals at this point."

"Oh, shut up Spock, give her some room!" McCoy snapped, kneeling down and placing a hand on Aura's shoulder. "Look, kid, you've been through a lot today and nobody blames you for being frustrated. I know what you've got to be feeling, I've been in a lot of situations when I've not been able to save somebody - it hurts, really bad, especially when you know there was a chance you might have been able to, but you can't let it stop you from going on."

Spock clasped his hands behind his back. "Indeed. In any case, wherever we may end up, it cannot be worse than here."

Aura frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Simply that I do not believe we would leave this universe and find ourselves in any worse condition than we are now." Spock replied. "Returning to our own universe may simply be the first step and there is no logic in planning any further until then."

"I guess so..." Aura looked around Sickbay again, suddenly seized with what she supposed Spock would think of as an illogical idea to pretend to be ill again, just to delay doing what they wanted her to do, but suppressed it - Kharis had taught her to take responsibility for her own actions and she needed to make this right, or try to, so she turned to Captain Kirk. "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, when you teleported the _Enterprise_ before, your powers interfaced with our warp core through one of the terminals here in sickbay..." Kirk paused for a moment. "However, I think it would probably work better if you were at the core itself. Spock will take you there since I have to get back to the bridge. Talk to Scotty when you get there."

Aura recognised that name. "He's the engineer, right? The one who was in charge when you were gone?"

"That's right." Kirk nodded. "If anybody can make this work, he can."

* * *

Aura tried to hide how nervous she was feeling as she followed Spock through the maze of corridors and turbolifts that led to Engineering.

The task before her continued to weigh heavily on her mind, it was one thing to teleport between other dimensions - and after more than three years she was used to it - but getting an entire ship and crew back to their own dimension was another, especially when she couldn't even remember the only time she had returned somewhere.

As they entered a turbolift and Spock entered the necessary destination, Aura cleared her throat. "Do you think I can do this?"

"It is entirely possible." Spock answered. "The danger risk is minimal, due to the fact that we know you have done it before."

"But I didn't know how I did it then..." Aura fumbled with the sleeve of her jumper. "What if I make a mistake?"

"I am certain you will know what to do when it is time to do it."

Aura was grateful for the trust that Spock seemed to be placing in her, but it also made her even more scared. "Do you think something could go wrong?"

Spock kept his eyes on her. "The Captain has complete faith in your abilities, as does Doctor McCoy and myself. You must do the same. Often the difference in success and failure is the belief a person has in their own capabilities."

Aura remembered the hesitation by Captain Kirk before accepting her hand when they had teleported back to the _Enterprise_ - how could she believe he did trust her? But she also knew that they needed to get back to their own universe, and that she was their only chance - they would have to keep faith in her, even if they were hesitant about it.

She breathed a deep sigh and didn't say anything else before they entered the huge room that was Engineering.

Aura was, to say the least, impressed with the size of the massive warp core, which housed the particulate matter and antimatter that fuelled the ship and its movement-related functions.

Scotty was already there, and she finally got to put a face to the voice from the communicator. He was kind of how she had imagined him to look - a human approaching middle age, with a kind and open face framed by dark hair - and as they walked towards him, she smiled and held out her hand, feeling she should be polite.

Scotty accepted her hand and shook it, then Spock explained the situation.

The engineer frowned. "I dunno if tha engines can stand up to it Mr Spock..."

Aura remembered how Spock had told her the engineer referred to the ship as his 'wee bairn' and though the literal meaning was lost to her, she understood that it meant he was protective of it.

"They stood up to it before, Mr. Scott." Spock stated. "They should be able to do it again, under your expert care."

"Och, of course, Mr. Spock, but tha core has moods, you must understand - it canna be bothered with this sort of thing all tha bloody time!"

"With luck, Mr. Scott, it will only be required once."

Scotty gave him a sideways glance. "I thought ya Vulcans didna believe in luck."

Spock gazed at Scotty, absolutely deadpan. "Certain situations may call for a change in belief. Otherwise I would not have been born."

Aura looked confused. "Huh?"

"My mother is human and my father Vulcan, I am the first half Vulcan to be born" Spock explained. "Vulcan does not approve of interspecies relations."

"But your father defied them anyway?" Aura replied.

Spock nodded. "Indeed"

Aura smiled "I think some of the best things in life happen when you do what you think is right, even when other people say it's wrong, and from what I've seen you definitely count as a good thing"

"I am sure my mother would be pleased to hear that."

The local intercom whistled.

Scotty moved to answer it. "Engineering."

_"Scotty, are we ready to go?"_

"Aye, sir. We're ready down here."

Aura looked up at Spock. "What do I do?"

"I believe you should consult Mr. Scott on that matter."

Scotty approached them again. "This way, lass."

He guided her to a computer console located directly on the warp core housing. "Your powers activated the warp core from Sickbay. Now, I dunna know if they're goin' ta be more potent from here or not, so just use your power the same way you did before, it should be easier for you."

Aura nodded, still slightly unsure, but she felt a little more confident now.

Placing her hands on the console, she closed her eyes and again searched for the power inside her and found it. It was like a spark that flashed every so often and-as she mentally seized it all she could hear was her breathing and heartbeat. Then the former vanished and only the steady sound of her heartbeat remained, comforting her as she concentrated in her mind to remember the universe from which Kirk and his ship were from.

That turned out to be the easy part, but she had to keep this thought in her mind and not let anything else get in the way even as her fingers started to tingle, a feeling which soon spread to the rest of her body - and had she been watching herself - like Spock and Mr Scott now were - Aura would have seen that she had a slight yellow glow all around her, which also spread to the console she was touching. Within seconds the full length of the warp core was enveloped in the glow and moments later, to an observer outside the Enterprise, around the huge ship's outline.

Aura clenched her teeth and tapped her powers as deeply as she could, opening herself fully to them - she couldn't let these people down, not after they'd been so kind to her.

She wouldn't let them down.

Fuelled by this determination, the glow intensified and sparks danced across Aura's fingers and the surface of the console she touched. The warp core whined as her powers guided it to activate, and her teleportation power began to take effect.

The_ Enterprise_ vanished from the face of the universe.

All those on board felt the strange sensation of passing through space and time, and to them it was an amazing feeling that they had never experienced before, but to Aura it was dangerous - teleporting this many people and their ship between two dimensions was pushing her to the extreme and should have killed her outright, but the constant and perpetual energy from the warp core meant that as she continued to use up energy it was replaced, with the inevitable pain held back as much as possible.

As the energy had spread throughout the ship, Aura had been able to feel the life energy of hundreds of people. Now could sense confusion and unease from almost every person - except one.

Spock.

But while his confidence in her was comforting, Aura was frightened - never had the process of teleporting between dimensions taken so long, not once she had gathered the energy and commanded it to take her away, so it was with an overwhelming sense of relief that she felt the sensation of reaching the end of the tunnel, but only when she knew they were through and safe did she let the encroaching darkness take her.

Kneeling down and feeling for her pulse, Spock judged that while it was beating slightly faster than he knew to be normal for her species, it was evident she had simply fainted from the exertion. That was understandable, since having a better grasp of her abilities than anybody else, except Aura herself, he knew that using them to teleport an entire Constitution-class starship across dimensions was something akin to moving an entire city to the other side of a planet using only a shovel.

It was also likely to be the most difficult task Aura had ever been asked to perform in terms of using her abilities and Spock was, in point of fact, impressed and surprised that all she had done was faint - after performing this astounding feat twice within less than two Standard days to escape with no apparent life-threatening injury was nothing short of miraculous.

Scotty whistled. "Ma word, Mr Spock, there doesn't seem to be no damage to the core, just a wee drain in the energy. That girl is something else."

"She does indeed have great potential." Spock nodded, gently lifting Aura into his arms. "I am confident that she will use it well."

* * *

Kirk had felt the shuddering of the _Enterprise_ along with everyone else on board, and as soon as it had stopped, pressed the intercom to Engineering, watching Chekov and Sulu begin to work furiously at their consoles and the stand-in officer at Spock's science station. "Mr Scott, did it work?"

Scotty's voice came through clear._ "Aye Sir."_

"Captain, sensors indicate we are at the same co-ordinates as when we disappeared." Sulu reported.

"Good." Kirk nodded. "Mr Scott, how is our young friend?"

_"She fainted afterwards sir, Mr Spock's takin' her back to Sickbay." _

"Alright Scotty, Kirk out."

Kirk sighed and leant back in his command chair - this whole thing had certainly been an adventure and now they were back in the right universe he was going to have a grand old time of trying to explain to Starfleet Command exactly what had happened to the_ Enterprise,_ but for now revelled in the fact that they were finally home, where they belonged.

He frowned slightly.

In the meantime, what were they to do about their young passenger?

Kirk doubted that she would want to stay aboard the _Enterprise, _even as useful as her abilities might be to the ship and crew - Aura was on her own journey, just as they were and though she might resist it, belonged where she didn't want to be. Until she realised this, she needed to keep going on the path she had chosen, but Kirk hoped that Aura would stay a while, at least so she could learn about their world in case she ever wanted to return.

He tapped the arm of his chair - until Aura had arrived and thrown everything into chaos they had been on route to the nearest starbase for a well-deserved break - perhaps she could be convinced to stay until they had left the starbase?

Kirk stepped up from the chair, giving the conn to Sulu and heading to Sickbay.

When he got there, McCoy was in the middle of running another series of tests on Aura, and Kirk felt a wave of sympathy. 'Poor kid, she's already scared of doctors, and then to have one hovering over her like a vulture full-time...'

McCoy glanced up, disapproval showing clearly in his eyes. "Jim, you really shouldn't be asking this girl to do something so colossal."

"I know, Bones." Kirk agreed. "But it isn't like we had a choice."

"Maybe." McCoy conceded grudgingly. "Next time though, exhaust your options with technology before using someone like that. It's unethical."

"And how would technology have got us back here?" Kirk countered.

"That parallel universe you were in before, you got back with technology then." McCoy shot back.

"Doctor." Spock started, earning him a venomous glance from McCoy which he merely raised an eyebrow at, then continued. "In that scenario, I understand that you returned by the same process that took you there. Thus, since it was Miss Starfire's abilities that precipitated our arrival in her universe, the logical solution was to use the same method to return as it had proved effective before."

"I don't have to like it." McCoy growled.

Spock nodded. "That is correct, Doctor. I must also add that the Captain did not say he 'liked' it, just that it was necessary. Now that we are back where we belong, we need not ask her to do it again."

McCoy didn't respond vocally, simply huffing as he continued scanning Aura, then turning to Kirk. "She'll be fine. A bit dehydrated and malnourished, but I expected that with the amount of energy she had to be using. All she needs is a little food, some fluids and rest - she's sleeping now, so let's just let her be."

"That." Spock nodded. "Is a logical choice."

* * *

The next few days were blissfully uneventful, though this was hardly surprising considering everything that had happened.

Kirk, McCoy and Spock all returned to their duties aboard the Starship they called home, but not before making sure to get suitable quarters for Aura until they reached Starbase 83. She had recovered quickly from the strain of teleporting the _Enterprise_ back to it's own dimension, but McCoy had wanted to keep an eye on her, so Kirk had suggested she stay until they reached the starbase, where they could get her some more supplies.

Aura was sad to see Spock go, but understood that the_ Enterprise_ was not a vessel where she could simply move about as she pleased, and that having her on the bridge at that moment would be out of the question.

Thus, she waited patiently in her room, occupying her mind with various things, but pausing every once in a while to stare out at the stars streaking past.

Before he had left on the first evening, Spock had given Aura a computerised book, much like her own journal and suggested that whilst the meditation she had used down on Mobius had evidently helped her, she might benefit from a more structured study of the method.

Aura read this now for little over an hour and tried some of the techniques it recommended, but couldn't shake off a growing sense of anger and frustration when it didn't seem to work.

Perhaps it was time to use a tried and tested method?

Aura picked up her backpack and opened it.

Even as a child, Aura had been quiet and shy around people other than her parents or brother, and when her parents had died she had found it hard to confide her feelings in Kharis, who was also grieving, instead finding her release in the form of her very first journal where she could vent her feelings without hurting others - her electrical ability was also a good way to do this, but Aura doubted that Captain Kirk would be pleased if she fried more of the Enterprise's circuits.

Aura knew every single item in there by touch alone, so when her fingers brushed against something unfamiliar, she stopped and pulled it out, finding it to be a book slightly smaller than her computerised journal, ring-bound with a dark green cover.

Despite having only seen it once, she recognised it immediately.

_'I keep a journal though. Sometimes it helps me think when I'm bored, sometimes I come up with fun stuff, and sometimes it's all just stupid.' _

This was Kharis' journal.

In shock, Aura dropped it.

For a moment, she just sat on the bed, trying to hold in the tears that threatened to fall just from seeing something that had been so important to her brother, and once again her hand moved to the pendant around her neck.

Then she grew curious - when had Kharis done this and why?

Picking the book back up, she ran her fingers along the cover then opened it, seeing the same familiar scrawl that had been a constant in her life until just a few years before, but knowing somehow that this was not what he had wanted her to see.

What he did lay in the back after the last entry he had made, just the day before they had run into each other.

It was a letter addressed to her.

_Aura. _

_I know I probably have a cute nickname for you, or maybe just call you 'sis', but I hope you'd understand if I don't use that here - I mean, after all, you might know me as your brother, but from my point of view you've not even been born yet, so it just feels a bit weird to call you that. _

_Of course, this whole experience has been weird, and I'm almost wishing I didn't have to forget, just so I could remember how much my sister loves me before she's even been born. _

_But I have to, and I know why._

_I know you didn't want to give me any information that might damage the future, which I guess your friend Spock must have told you, since he seems to know about that kind of thing. I hope they're not too hard on you for that - personally I can't imagine how hard it must have been to have kept that secret for so long, especially considering how young you are, which I think was the predominant cause, since from what I've seen you're a strong person and can tell you kept a lot more back after revealing just how we're connected. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't blame yourself because I thought about some of the things you mentioned before and after 'spilling the beans' as it were that doesn't make me feel confident about the future. _

_Hear me - no self-recriminations, that's a demand from your yet-to-be brother. _

_I really don't want to imagine my own death, or those of my - our - parents, but there's a lot of evidence to support it and I don't want to remember that if there isn't a way to stop it from happening. I know it seems like I'm running away, but I know that I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it, or telling mom and dad, and then what kind of childhood would that give you? _

_I think I understand why Takashi's memories were left untouched, but really the only person who needs to remember everything that happened today is you. I'm sorry if that sounds cruel, but I know you're strong enough not to let this consume you. Still, just so you have something to comfort you, I thought I'd give you this journal - don't worry, I checked it with Spock first - and my first piece of brotherly advice: _

_Keep travelling. _

_I can't begin to imagine some of the things you must have seen and they must be magnificent in comparison with Mobius - but if you find somewhere you think would be a good place to settle down, do it. Also, trust your instincts - I think they've been good to you so far - but remember to trust other people as well and don't just take them on first appearances. If you do you'll be as bad as some of the people you mentioned and I think I know you well enough to say that you're better than that. _

_Above all, never forget us. _

_~ Kharis _

Aura closed the journal and placed it on the table by the bed, then got in and pulled the covers around her before closing her eyes, more to stop the tears she felt building up behind them than to try and sleep.

This time, however, they were not tears of distress, but comfort.

Since beginning her travels, she had always wondered whether her brother would have been happy with the choice she had made, and now, in an unexpected way, she had got an answer.

He was.

* * *

The _Enterprise_ made it to Starbase 83 two days later in the late morning, according to Starfleet Standard time.

Aura had spent some of that time in her room, giving the meditation techniques from the programme Spock had given her another chance, writing in her journal a full and exhaustive account of the last few days and reading a book of her own, but also spent time with Spock, Kirk and McCoy when they were off-duty as well as other members of the Enterprise who had wanted to meet their temporary passenger. Ordinarily, she would have shied away from this, but after what she had learnt from the last few days and in Kharis' letter to her, Aura was determined to keep her new resolution, and found that she enjoyed meeting so many new people.

When the streaking stars outside her window slowed and stopped, Aura was sitting cross-legged on her bed, playing a game with the pack of cards that Takashi had given her.

Although she wasn't confined to her room, Spock had recommended that it would be best for her to only walk about the ship with another person, since she did not know her way around, so she waited.

Aura knew she couldn't stay here any longer than necessary - both at the starbase and in this universe because whilst she didn't like thinking about it, there was nothing left to do here. Everyone was safe and back where they belonged and in the space of just a few days she had learnt more than in all her years of travelling so far and taken it all with the grace of a person more mature than she had ever known herself to be.

She could have stayed on the starbase, that was true, but Aura had a feeling it wouldn't be as fun without Spock or his friends around, and they had their own lives to return to, their own journey to continue, just as she had her own.

Still, it would be different now.

At the beginning, she had been scared of being alone and having to do everything that Kharis had always done for her. She had shied away from many people, especially humans, because of her first, terrifying experience and because of that had probably left far too many places without knowing what wonders she may have experienced if she had just given those people a chance.

Aura gave an inward, and resolute, shake of her head.

No, no more and never, ever again.

The infinate number of dimensions out there might be dangerous, and she knew it would be wrong to stop being careful and suspicious completely, but it was time to widen her horizons.

It was, as Spock might say, the logical thing to do.


	14. Epilogue

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**Epilogue** - The aftermath of adventure.

* * *

Time is static, it does not stop. Seconds become minutes, minutes become hours and hours become days, which continue and go onwards, becoming weeks, months, years and entire lifetimes as time marches steadily onwards.

In three seperate, but connected dimensions, time would also pass, but not without consequences in the lives of seven particular people.

This is what happened after the adventure.

* * *

_After Kirk had left, Takashi waited for his father to awaken from the sleep induced mind-meld in which Spock had removed the memories of all that had happened, then told him a believable story which his father accepted without question, especially when shown the chaos emeralds which Takashi had discovered during the time he had been 'incapacitated', not knowing that he himself had been instrumental in finding one of them._

_They would continue on their research trip and find each of the remaining chaos emeralds before returning to Stockwood, where they would be kept in protective storage as Kintobor began the next phase of his project._

_In the summer of 2592, when Takashi was thirteen years old, they would move to Emerald Hill. A year later, Kintobor would finish the ROCC, or Retro Orbital Chaos Compressor - a machine designed to absorb and convert negative chaos energy using the power held by the emeralds - but unwittingly plunge the planet into an uncertain future when the machine would malfunction due to the absence of the unknown seventh chaos emerald and flood his body with that same energy, turning him into the soon to be feared despot - Doctor Ivo Robotnik._

_Takashi would be presumed dead in the following destruction of their labratory home in the Emerald Hill Zone, but begin a new life as Sonic the Hedgehog through a combination of changes in his physical appearance, guilt and blackmail from the person he had once called his father._

_Moving to South Island, he would run away, ending up in the village of Green Hill where he vowed never to speak of his past again, but shocked to find that Aura lived in Green Hill. Then just a five year old child with her parents and brother alive, she could tell Sonic nothing about the future of which he was suddenly so afraid._

_Tragically, this would be with good reason._

_Five months into his new life, Sonic would be woken in the middle of the night to find the village being attacked by robots - badniks - fuelled with organic batteries, living, breathing animals, and be blackmailed into finding the chaos emeralds which had returned to the warp zone when his former father threatened the safety of his new family who had taken Sonic in when he had come to Green Hill._

_Sonic would fight Robotnik and win, but after a second confrontation back in Emerald Hill, realise that things could never go back to the way they had been - and feeling it to be his responsibility to make sure they never got worse, form the Freedom Fighters in the summer of 2594._

_Sonic the Hedgehog, Johnny Lightfoot, Porker Lewis and Miles 'Tails' Prower - the founding members - would fight Robotnik many times, and in the years to come be joined by Amy Rose and Tekno Kanarian as well as many others wanting to aid them in their fight for freedom._

_Sonic would struggle with the guilt that he should be doing this alone, and the secrets of his past that only Johnny Lightfoot and one other person would know for years to come, but also with moments of anger towards Aura, for not telling him what was going to happen, then would remember how she had told Kharis who she was, then let him forget and realise that it could not have been an easy decision to make._

_Meanwhile, he and the Freedom Fighters would oppose Robotnik many times and Sonic would indeed become, as Captain Kirk had said, a hero._

* * *

_After returning to their own universe, Captain James T Kirk, First Officer Spock and Doctor Leonard McCoy - as well as the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise - returned to their five-year mission._

_Each of those that had stepped foot on Mobius would dwell on the events that had occured there from time to time, and what would - or might - happen to the people they had met._

_Spock would reveal the fates of Kintobor and Kharis, and each would mourn in their own way for two lives that would be lost, but from what Kirk and McCoy had seen of Takashi, and what Spock had discovered from the melds with Aura, Kharis and Kintobor, realise that Takashi might not die as Aura had thought, and be comforted by the knowledge that one life may have been saved because of their intervention._

_Spock added that since Takashi would remember Aura and what she had said in his presence, it could have been a crucial factor in being rescued from her home in Green Hill, then subsequently to leaving Mobius and thus to her unwilling trip back, completing a predetermined time-loop, but that this would remain a hypothosis._

_McCoy, as normal, would then comment with an acebic comment that only Spock could take saving the day and boil it down to science and mathematics. Spock, in typical fashion, would do nothing more than raise an eyebrow, and Kirk would contain a chuckle at the usual form of interaction between his closest friends._

_For them, Aura's future remained unknown, because she did not return to the Enterprise, perhaps - as Spock pointed out - because of the time differencials between dimensions._

_None, however, forgot her time there and many years later, when Spock would stand and face his half-brother, Sybok, he would recall her after Sybok's death would he finally understand their meaning._

**_"I do know what it is like to have a brother, as a matter of fact. However, we are estranged from each other."_**

**_"But haven't you ever wanted to get to know him better?"_**

**_"At times. However, he has a curious inability to see reason. That is why we do not speak."_**

**_"You should! Then you just might know what you're missing! Like I know what I'm missing by not having mine! I just want my brother back, can't you understand that?"_**

**_"No. I cannot."_**

_He would never disclose to anybody the reasons for the brief mind-meld with Aura during her last few moments on the Enterprise, only that it had been the logical thing to do and might one day help her gather the courage to go home._

_In the meantime, however, life for him, Kirk, McCoy and the crew of the Enterprise would continue as normal._

* * *

_Two months after the adventure he would remember only as a dream, Kharis Starfire would return to South Island and on learning he would soon no longer be an only child, have a pendant made and feel a strange sense of deja-vu when he held it in his hands, and when asked by his parents to choose the name of his sister, have one name spring instantly to his lips._

_Aurora._

_Almost six years later a fire in Green Hill would kill their parents, which Kharis, travelling again on the Mainland, would only hear of after Robotnik's defeat. He would return to find his sister had survived, and leave with her soon after, unable to bear living there any longer._

_To try and ease their grief, he would take Aura travelling in the months before she started school, and then in the holidays, with no idea of the task for which it would help prepare her, or that telling her about the origins of Ovi Kintobor -which he had heard as a young child visiting with his grandfather - would help Aura to accept her abilities._

_In the autumn of 2594 they would settle in Azure City, but less than three years later and shortly after Aura's ninth birthday, the Mettalix - robots built in the image of Sonic - would attack and Kharis would give his life protecting Aura._

_But as Kharis lost his grip on life, the memories erased by Spock were suddenly there and he remembered it all - meeting a girl when he was seventeen who claimed to be able to teleport to other dimensions, who could wield strange electrical powers and who, whilst having moments of weakness, was much stronger than she appeared. A girl who had claimed to be his sister, a fact which he had been forced to forget until the effects of the meld by Spock were broken as his grip on life faded._

_Kharis felt his fears for Aura dissapear, even as she continued to cling to him and cry as he let his eyes fall shut._

_He knew she would be fine._

* * *

Aura sat on the top of a large rock by a cliffside that overlooked the expanse of a green-blue ocean.

Letting the cool summer air drift through her hair and cool her fur, she reached into her rucksack for a bottle of water, but instead her fingers brushed the surface of a book.

Kharis' journal.

Bringing it out, Aura looked at it fondly - she had spent many hours reading and re-reading the entries as well as the letter Kharis had written to her, taking comfort and joy from something that would once have only caused her pain.

She untied the ribbon that was binding it, a legacy of one of her travels since - and pulled out the photographs tucked into the inside sleeve. A few were of her parents, looking younger than she could remember them and she studied these closely, thanking her not-yet brother for realising that her memories of them would be less clear as the years went by, and there were also a few of the three members of the Enterprise who had become so important to her, taken by Takashi at her request, who had also added several of himself and Kintobor.

Aura's smile faltered - the frustration of knowing the fate of Takashi and his father, like that of Kharis, would never fade completely, and even knowing the devestating consequences of changing the future didn't make it easier to bear.

Instead of dwelling on this she turned to the last two photographs, unable to remember either being taken, but so glad they had.

The first was of herself and Kharis, sitting on the ground when he had been telling her about his childhood, both of them smiling and just enjoying the time spent together.

In the other, she was sitting on a table in the Enterprise with Spock as he tried to explain the rules of three-dimensional chess to her, which she hadn't been able to understand, but grasped the rules of normal chess before introducing Spock to a few card games she had learnt, which they had played and he had beaten her seven games in a row.

Aura smiled fondly.

It was strange, how much she had changed because of the events of just a few days.

After leaving the _Enterprise _three years earlier, she had kept true to her resolution and where before she would have shied away from the inhabitants of the planets she visited, Aura now tried to communicate with them - and found that often she was accepted, making friends and enjoying many new experiences, and that even when she wasn't welcomed, the feeling of at least having tried had been enough to keep her going in the hope of what lay ahead.

Lately, though, she had taken an even bigger step as she was reminded of by looking behind her, where she could see a by-now familiar tall blue box that wouldn't have looked out of place in one particular country on Earth in the mid 20th century, but did here on Courilas.

For the first time since leaving Mobius she wasn't travelling alone, and Aura's adventures with the Doctor through space and time were more enjoyable than she could have imagined. Even if they were restricted to just one dimension and frequently dangerous, having somebody to talk to was good, even more somebody who accepted and understood her abilities and the things she had gone through and with all his knowledge of science and desire to preserve the timeline, the Doctor often reminded her of Spock.

Aura still didn't know if her ability to teleport was there for a reason - the Doctor didn't seem to have an answer - but she didn't care, deciding that if there was one, it was to learn and do things that she doubted more than a handful of people could ever dream to, and this was enough.

Something of which Kharis would, she was sure, soundly approve.

Looking back at the journal, Aura knew that as much as she disliked the term, she was over her brother's death - with her unconscious, unwanted, yet rewarding trip back to Mobius the cause. Thinking about him no longer made her cry and she stopped dwelling on what had gone wrong, what could have been done differently or just what might have been, instead on everything that they had done together - and as cheesy as it sounded, how lucky she had been for the time they had shared.

Smiling, she opened the book and began to read.

_'...well here goes, off into the unknown, though I guess since I'm heading to the famous caverns in Southern Elhannon, they're pretty much known to everyone but me, niave island-boy that I am, but there's always the chance I'll discover something nobody else has, which would be great... _

_Oh gross - a bug just bit me._

_There goes any chance of the manly wilderness explorer._

_I hate bugs._

_I really hate bugs...'_

* * *

**Authors note: **Well, I really hope you enjoyed this story - there may be a 'bonus' chapter, basically a piece that didn't fit in with the rest of the chapter it was originally a part of, but other than that this is the end of 'The Future's Past'. There will be more of Aura's travels in other dimensions, but right now I'm working on another story - details of which are in my profile.


	15. Directors cut

**The Future's Past  
**  
Co-written by Aurora-cs and Matt Morwell

**~ Directors cut ~**

* * *

These are parts from Chapter Thirteen that didn't make the final cut, but which I feel are good enough to be included as 'extras' - the parts in italics are the lines they would have preceded in the original chapter, but they can be read just as easily without.

* * *

_Scotty whistled. "Ma word, Mr Spock, there doesn't seem to be no damage to the core, just a wee drain in the energy. That girl is something else."_

_"She does indeed have great potential." Spock nodded, gently lifting Aura into his arms. "I am confident that she will use it well."_

. . .

Evening on the _Enterprise_ found Kirk and Spock on the recreation deck playing a game of chess. As usual, Spock was winning, but after their years of playing together Kirk was no novice and knew his chances of winning could change at any time.

The door opened with a _swoosh_ as McCoy entered, Aura following closely behind.

After more than twelve hours sleep, which she knew to be normal for the strenuous task of teleporting across a dimension, Aura felt fully refreshed and alert, but knew she would have to wait a little longer before it was safe to use her teleportation abilities again.

Right now, though, she didn't need them, Doctor McCoy said she needed to eat and had suggested they go to the mess-hall rather than stay in Sickbay, and Aura, curious about what else there was on the _Enterprise_ to see, had eagerly agreed to this, and McCoy's suggestion that they stop by to invite the Captain and Mr Spock as well.

They waited, watching the game unfold.

Aura wasn't quite sure how the game was played - although there were similar games she'd run across during her travels, the rules for each one seemed to be different, unique to themselves and she had seen games called by the same name played in different ways, like now, recognising what Kirk and Spock were playing as chess, but in three-dimensions instead of one.

As she mused on this, Spock moved his remaining bishop three spaces diagonally to the left and placed it on a direct path to Kirk's king.

"Mate." He said simply.

Kirk smirked. "How do you manage to trick me like that every time, Spock?"

Spock, as Aura now expected, raised an eyebrow. "It is no trick Captain, merely logic, since my piece had - "

"Okay, Spock, cut it out!" Kirk interrupted good-naturedly, cutting his First Officer off before he could launch into a long-winded explanation for his victory, which in any other species would have been considered boasting, but for Spock was simply logical. "That was a good game."

"Indeed."

"How many games has he won now then Jim?" McCoy interjected.

Kirk chuckled. "I lost count ages ago." He sent Spock a glance. "Yes, I know you know, Spock, but please don't tell me."

"Yeah, let Jim wallow in self-delusion for a while." McCoy grinned.

Spock quirked an eyebrow, but didn't respond.

Aura sighed inwardly - she was going to miss these people when it was time for her to leave and didn't want to keep thinking about it, but it weighed rather heavily on her mind and not for the first time did the thought cross her mind that she didn't have to leave, but she knew she had to - from what she had found out talking to McCoy on their way here, Starfleet - who were in charge of the _Enterprise_ - wouldn't let her stay on the Starship and would probably investigate her, and Aura wasn't keen on having any kind of authority figure trying to run her life.

Besides, this wouldn't be the first dimension she had left after making friends, though these instances had been far and few in-between, since she was often treated like a demon or an alien - though the latter was true - which had deterred her from making friends, but now she recognised that she had been just as much at fault, often avoiding people - especially humans - because of how they looked or intially reacted to her, but Spock and his friends hadn't seen her as something to be feared or looked on her as strange, but had welcomed and helped her, despite knowing little about her.

Perhaps it was time for a change.

As they left the rec-room and headed towards the Mess-hall, Aura gravitated to Spock, asking him various questions which he answered as best he could, seeing how her curiosity once again belayed her true age as whenever he had finished answering one question, Aura would then ask another, all sharing two common characteristics - none were connected to her and all were about family, friends or his childhood.

This was hardly surprising to Spock, after what he had seen in her mind and witnessed down on Mobius - Aura was a lonely vagabond, wandering the universes aimlessly, trying to find out what was worth living for without her family, understandably interested in the families of others, yet trying to maintain her distance from people she cared for, no doubt afraid of being hurt again. To a psychologist, hers would be a very troubling case, and yet somehow she had made it through all the difficulties of the journey so far.

Spock had no idea whether Mobius had a concept of 'heaven' and could not see the logic in it himself, but was sure that if he had, Aura's parents and brother would be there, as proud as they could - and should - be of her.

As they entered the Mess-hall, he took her to the replicators and showed her how they worked.

Aura looked at the selection and chose a cheese sandwich, a bit boring, but many of the other choices were things she didn't recognise and she decided it would probably be a good idea if she chose something she actually knew.

Remembering the taste of the ice-cream from earlier, Aura felt another pang - it was a taste of home she might not see again and while she didn't want to go back, it was still something she missed.

She followed Spock to a table, aware of the glances she was being given by other members of the crew, but that was something she was used to by now and they soon turned away as she began to eat, realising just how hungry she was.

As he approached them, McCoy nodded to himself, glad that in this respect she wasn't like Spock, who would often only do what he recommended when forced.

Still, he kept an eye on them both.

After all, he'd had enough of dealing with the medical problems of these two particular people in the last week to last him a lifetime.

* * *

_This time, however, they were not only tears of distress, but comfort._

_Since beginning her travels, Aura had always wondered whether her brother would have been happy with the choice she had made, and now, in an unexpected way, she had got an answer and for the first time in days, slept without any nightmares._

. . .

The _Enterprise_ made it to Starbase 83 two days later in the late morning, according to Starfleet Standard time.

Aura had spent some of that time in her room, practicing the meditation techiques from the programme Spock had given her, writing in her journal a full and exhaustive account of the last few days and reading a book of her own, but she also spent time with Spock, Kirk and McCoy when they were off-duty, as well as other members of the _Enterprise_ who had wanted to meet their temporary passenger.

Ordinarily, Aura would have shied away from this, but after what she had learnt from the last few days and what Kharis had written to her, she was determined to keep her new resolution, and found she enjoyed meeting so many new people.

When the streaking stars outside her window slowed and stopped, Aura was sitting crosslegged on her bed, playing a game with the pack of cards that Takashi had given her.

Although she wasn't confined to her room, Spock had recommended that it would be best for her to only walk about the ship with another person, since she did not know her way around, so she waited.

It was less than half an hour before the door chimed and Spock came in.

Aura smiled at him. "Good morning, Mr Spock."

Spock inclined his head. "And to you, miss Starfire. You slept well, I trust."

Aura nodded.

"The Captain and Doctor McCoy have already beamed down to the Starbase and are currently waiting for us to join them." Spock didn't mention that he had planned to remain on the _Enterprise_ and run various computer tests and assist Mr Scott in Engineering, but that Kirk and McCoy had persuaded him to come along, or that he felt it his responsibility to help Aura before she left.

"Okay." Aura picked up her backpack and followed him through the corridors of the ship.

They reached the transporter room without any trouble and beamed down to the Starbase, a collection of tall angular buildings with mountains in the distance and a pale purple sky with the faint impression of a ringed planet.

There were quite a lot of people walking around, not all of them human and it wasn't hard to spot Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy, both standing by what looked like a fountain, who spotted them and came over.

"Spock, glad you could join us." Kirk smiled, then turned to Aura. "Miss Starfire, I'm assuming you've never been to a Starbase before?"

Aura shook her head. "No, at least I don't think I have." She paused, wondering if it was right to ask, but knowing she could trust him and believing he would understand. "Captain Kirk?"

He smiled down at her. "What can I do for you?"

Aura shifted uneasily. "Do you know where I could get some new clothes? Everything I've got is old or damaged."

Kirk nodded. "There should be somewhere on the Starbase where you can find some."

"I don't have any money though." Aura added as the thought suddenly occured to her. "Well, I do, but I don't think they would take it here."

Kirk gave Aura what she presumed was meant to be a reassuring clap on the shoulder. "That doesn't matter, you've got nothing to worry about. This universe is a bit different - we don't use money. Instead, we place faith in those of our many societies that they'll use the resources at their disposal wisely."

Aura was surprised. "No money? You don't get paid for flying a ship?"

Kirk shook his head. "No, we don't. The kind of payment we get is being able to explore all the vast unknown of space. Even in this century we can't think of any greater reward."

"So you don't have to pay for anything?" Aura frowned. "That's strange. I like it, but it's strange."

"It's eliminated poverty entirely." Kirk continued. "Without anyone having any money, how can anybody be poor?"

Aura nodded. She doubted it had to be true throughout every corner of this universe, but wasn't about to voice that particular question when she normally had great difficulty in replacing her clothing, reminding her of a proverb a human from Earth had taught her - don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Chuck had been a strange old man, Aura decided.

As they split into groups and headed off, McCoy with Chekov towards the local drinking establishments and Spock, Kirk and Aura to a clothing shop, they ran into Christine Chapel, who gave an exasperated chuckle.

"Honestly, Captain, I don't think we should let you choose." Christine smiled, with a hint of humourous sarcasm. "You either, Mr Spock, there isn't a man alive who has ever successfully chosen clothing for women."

"I'm wounded, Miss Chapel." Kirk rejoined.

Christine shook her head and turned to Aura. "I'm heading in that direction myself, if you'd like some company."

Aura nodded, her smile suddenly girlish and surprising those around her. "Okay."

Christine - as Miss Chapel had insisted she call her - explained to Aura as they walked in the direction of the nearest clothier that while Starfleet personnel were required to wear uniforms whilst on duty, they were not at any other time, making clothiers on Starbases in demand for the various crewmembers of ships like the _Enterprise_ that routinely passed through, and since the uniforms naturally tended to be boring and 'usual' to those who wore them, this made casual clothing in different shades and styles more appealing to those serving in the military of Starfleet.

Aura hadn't been faced with such a large selection of clothes in a long time, and even better, found that they even catered special clothing for non-human species so that she wouldn't be forced to cut a hole in them for her tail - wrapping it around her waist might be practical for keeping herself hidden, but it was very uncomfortable.

With Christine's help, she chose three sets of clothing - and accessories - as well as a thin nightshirt, each tailored for a different climate, as she could never be sure where she might end up next.

As they left that store unit and passed another, Aura stopped and stared at the display in the window, which was filled with rucksacks, tents and other wilderness supplies.

She fingered the straps to her backback.

It was the same backpack she'd had when leaving Mobius, and one which her brother had given Aura the very first time he had taken her travelling at the age of six, just a few months after their parents had died. Whilst new then, it was now ripped and torn in so many places that there was really no practical reason to keep it, and didn't hold that much, since when they had travelled Kharis had carried most of their equipment and supplies.

Still, she was reluctant to let go of it, even remembering her resolution.

Christine seemed to understand what was going on without even asking, and quietly led Aura into the store.

It didn't take long to find something suitable for Aura, a large rucksack that was built for her age and height, but able to hold three times the amount of her backpack without being difficult to carry, waterproof and in a deep, rich purple colour.

"How about this as well?" Christine suggested, holding up a small, compact tent.

Aura nodded - after all, it was only nice sleeping under the stars when the weather was warm and dry, so having a form of shelter she could carry around with her was good. "I like it."  
_  
_After trying on some of her new clothing and agreeing with Christine that the jaunt had been a successful one, they made their way through the massive Starbase to find the mess hall where almost a hundred off-duty personnel from the _Enterprise_ and other Starships as well as a host of fascinating aliens, were eating delicious-smelling meals.

Aura licked her lips - she was feeling quite hungry and looking forward to what they had to offer here after the meal she'd had last night. Christine smiled and led her to one of the food dispensers, suggesting something Aura might like, then to an unoccupied table where they spoke for a long time, and Aura found herself enjoying the juicy gossip about the _Enterprise's_ resident Vulcan.

This, however, came to a halt when said 'resident Vulcan' came walking up to their table with the Captain. Christine failed to stop the blush that spread across her cheeks, hoping he hadn't heard her, but Aura hadn't seen him coming and asked what Christine had been about to say, then turned around to see Spock and smiled sheepishly.

"I trust you two had fun then." Kirk chuckled as he and Spock sat down, seeing Christine trying to get rid of her blush.

"I got some new supplies and some clothes." Aura said.

Kirk nodded. "I see. Nothing fun though?"

"I don't know if I have room in this rucksack for fun," Aura said with a small smile, then paused. "I wouldn't feel right about it anyway, I mean, I know you said you don't use money, but I still wish I could pay you back."

"You don't have to." Kirk insisted.

"I know. I was brought up to believe that it was wrong to get something for nothing, but sometimes I've had to."

"Well, you've given us all an adventure we'll never forget." Kirk smiled. "Consider that payment."

"Indeed." Spock nodded.

Kirk continued to smile down kindly at Aura. "Our resupply here is almost finished. We should get back to the ship."

Aura nodded silently.

* * *

_It was, as Spock might say, the logical thing to do._

. . .

Aura stood in the transporter room of the Starbase, knowing that this would probably be the last time she would be doing this and that although she could get there under her own power, it was probably better this way.

She also wanted to do it this way, and as the confinement beam took her into it's strange hold, relished the feeling and savoured it as long as she could, feeling her entire body being transformed into a living data stream and sent back to the proud Starship that Captain Kirk was in command of.

When the feeling finally passed, she stared up at Spock and smiled sadly. "It's almost time for me to go, isn't it?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Your departure time is what you make it to be, though I must say that were I human - and I am sure the Captain and Doctor McCoy agree - I would be dissapointed at seeing that you have chosen to leave. We do have much to offer, as you know, and it would be possible to remain in this dimension and make a life here."

Aura nodded. "I know, but I can't stay here forever, even as much as I'd want to. I want to explore, find myself... find what else there is to live for, and I don't think I could do that here."

"Across an infinity of universes, Ms Starfire, you will have the potential to know more than we here ever could." Spock nodded. "Your place is not here, but everywhere, as physically impossible as that may sound."

Aura smiled again. She didn't know what it was about Spock's words, as somber as they always were, that had such a calming effect on her, but whatever it was she held as dearly as she'd ever held anything else worth holding to.

Several hours later found Aura back in her room, collecting the remainder of her possessions and moving these and the rest of her things to her new rucksack.

Holding her old and tattered backpack in her hands, Aura paused, then took a pair of scissors and cut a small piece of material out, then a needle and thread, which she used to sew it to the inside of her rucksack, making a small pocket, then laying the rest of the backpack on the bed, pulled on the jacket she had bought earlier, unsure of what the weather of her next destination might be.

Aura felt glad that it was almost assured that wherever she went, she could survive, whether it was part of her powers or not, because although she might have landed on planets with different species, language and food, the air had always been safe to breathe.

A wry smile crossed her face and she shrugged - she wasn't about to question this as well.

There was a chime at the door, and a second later Kirk, Spock and McCoy entered, the latter carrying a small white box, which he gave to Aura.

McCoy smiled faintly. "That thing's full of essential medical supplies. You could call it a first-aid kit." He snorted. "Haven't used that term since the dark ages, but I don't think I could give you any of our technology. Mainly it's contents are medicines, gauze, bandages, your basic survival gear. Oh, and this." McCoy opened it and removed a piece of paper with his handwriting on. "When I took that last scan, I noted down your resting heartbeat, breathing and temperature, so if you get in trouble again and can't tell anybody, they'll know what's normal for you."

Aura smiled up at McCoy, touched by the thought. "Thank you."

Kirk approached her next, and extended his hand.

She grasped it firmly.

"I want to thank you." Kirk began. "For showing us so much more than we could ever have imagined. It gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, for every world out there that doesn't have any life on it, there is a twin a universe away that does, and well," His smile grew. "A universe away doesn't sound so far now."

Aura nodded. Because of her powers, that phrase had never meant a great distance for her, but she understood that other people found it an impossible thing to grasp.

"Thank you for being so kind to me and putting trust in me when I didn't want to myself, and for not treating me like a kid." Aura paused. "I mean, I know I still am, I don't remember exactly how long I've been travelling, but back home I'd still be considered a kid, so I'm glad you didn't treat me like one all the time."

She looked at Kirk, McCoy and Spock, then the room around her, and the stars streaking past.

"Maybe I'll come back here someday."

It was what she hoped, but the thought that was truly going through her mind was that maybe, one day, she would go back to Mobius, just to see what it was like, but didn't feel ready yet.

She chose not to express this feeling out loud, but Spock saw the glint in her eye as he approached her and suspected he knew what she had been thinking.

"Miss Starfire, your time with us has been fascinating." Spock nodded. "I hope that you will return some day, to tell us of the places you shall travel to after you leave."

"Sure." Aura nodded. "It's a promise."

"We shall miss you." Spock said, reaching up and placing one hand on her head. It might have seemed like a gesture of comfort, but everybody in the room could see it as a mind-meld, though for what purpose, they didn't know.

The smile on Aura's face faltered and was almost replaced by a look of sorrow as she looked up at him, her eyes telling him everything he needed to know.

"I'll miss you too, Spock."

The Captain and Doctor McCoy didn't miss the tone of her voice, or the significance of her using Spock's name in particular, but drew no attention to it.

Aura turned to placing the box in her rucksack, trying to keep them from seeing the tears welling up, and wiping them away as her back was turned to them, fastening the straps on the rucksack and securing it on her shoulders before turning back again. "I guess this is goodbye."

"Guess so, kid." McCoy nodded.

"Good luck." Kirk added.

Aura turned to Spock, and stared at him for only a moment before launching herself into his arms. Confused, Spock looked to Kirk and McCoy for help, and when they nodded, he moved his arms around her, understanding this sudden need for comfort.

"Sorry..." Aura swallowed nervously as she pulled back from the embrace. "I just couldn't help it. You and the Captain and Doctor McCoy have all been so nice to me, but you're special, and even if you don't show emotions, you're a good friend."

"Agreed, but I think you shocked him."

"I was not shocked, Captain, though it was unexpected." Spock replied, raising an eyebrow, the faintest traces of a smile in his lips, unnoticeable to all but those who knew him extremely well.

Aura stepped back and closed her eyes, tapping once again into that power and concentrating, focusing all her willpower into the effort of moving across the dimensions.

She vanished from view in a small burst of light.

Kirk and McCoy both sighed.

"Gonna miss that kid." McCoy muttered.

Kirk nodded.

Spock was silent, his eyes seeing the space where Aura had just been and picking out what Kirk and McCoy's could not - that as she had vanished, a single tear had trickled onto the floor. He had expected as much. Aura was a very emotional person. On Vulcan, it was reprehensable, but on the Enterprise, it was expected.

And she had been smiling.

That was what she had wanted them to see.

It was what Spock would remember.


End file.
